


Black Leather

by ScreenSiren



Series: Leather, Gasoline & Cigarettes [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:46:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 42
Words: 87,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23434876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScreenSiren/pseuds/ScreenSiren
Summary: Lola Hopper had seen enough shit in this lifetime to deal with pretty much anything. She's lost her mom, her sister; and found herself fighting for her life against creatures from another dimension; crazy, right?Now life has finally seemed to return to normal, albeit with a few "supernatural" changes, but she'd not been expecting the new kids in town; nor how thoroughly fucked up her life would get whilst she's trying to defend her family from an otherworldly threat; all whilst attempting to fend off the attentions of a very persistent bad boy.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Original Character(s), Billy Hargrove & Original Female Character(s), Billy Hargrove/Original Character(s), Billy Hargrove/Original Female Character(s), Billy Hargrove/Reader, Steve Harrington & Original Character(s), Steve Harrington & Original Female Character(s), Steve Harrington/Original Female Character(s), Steve Harrington/Reader
Series: Leather, Gasoline & Cigarettes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685836
Comments: 6
Kudos: 76





	1. Chapter 1 - Manic Monday

**Author's Note:**

> "He's all geared up, walkin' down the street  
> I can single the slime, drippin' down his feet  
> Well, you can't refuse and you just can't choose what he's gonna do  
> Well, you can't refuse and you just can't choose what he's gonna do
> 
> Well, it's late at night and I'm all alone  
> I can hear the boots gettin' near her home  
> Well, you can't refuse and you just can't choose what he's gonna do  
> Well, you can't refuse and you just can't choose what he's gonna do
> 
> Scratch, scratch, he's clawin' at the door  
> Oh, no, I can't take anymore, crack, crack, I'm feelin' so sore  
> Never should have asked for black leather..."
> 
> \- The Runaways

Life had remained largely the same, despite the obvious overhanging changes over the last year. I mean; life had always been hectic; disastrous even, taking turns and downright derailing at the worst times. We’d experienced loss again and again, been chewed up and spat on, but got up fighting; because that was what being a Hopper meant, being too damn stubborn to die. It was in the genes.

Life had gotten weirder. The discovery of real, living and fucking breathing monsters had been a big ole’ “fuck you” to logic, but science seemed to back it up with the uncovering of Hawkins lab and whatever sinister experiments they were running there. Of course; that wasn’t a concern any more, considering old Uncle Sam had shut that down quicker than the health inspector at Benny’s; God rest his soul.

But even with the finality of the death and burial of Hawkins greatest catastrophe/mystery; it still left a lot of bodies in its wake, one of which I was currently adjusting to calling sister.

Eleven. El. Jane. Whatever people preferred to call her; she was currently sharing a home with Me and my dad, as we all played happy families in the darkened depths of Indiana woodlands. I liked the kid; I’d admit it. She was sweet in her own way, and knowing she could toss shit around with her mind made her much cooler than the average thirteen year old. Of course; all of that was a secret. Everything about El was; as far as the government knew, she didn’t exist. It was the price that had to be payed for safety, and God knew dad valued that above all else: including our sanity.

So instead we stayed shut inside that little wooden hut forgotten by time and space, sneaking in and out at the rising and setting of the sun, like criminals or bats in the night. It was enough to drive you crazy; and trust me, dad was already half way there. Tensions ran high all the time; higher than they had at the height of his PTSD, and God; sometimes I just wanted to scream. For someone to address that shit wasn’t normal, rather than sitting around and pretending that it is.

The only true bit of normality was school and work. Mainly just school, as the arrival of a new dependant meant my work hours were seriously fucked. Wasn’t the kid’s fault; dad was a workaholic, didn’t know when to call it a day, and that left me picking up the pieces. It was Sara all over again. At least back then things were normal. There was still trauma, but it was the kind normal families had. A missing parent; semi-alcoholic father; that was shit everybody had to deal with, but this. This was the stuff that only happened in B movies.

—————————————

God; sometimes I really loved having a motorcycle. The wind slapping your face like a Californian wave; that rush of adrenaline when you take a corner a little too fast, when death seems just moments away. It was like flying; soaring through the air without limits. No; it was more visceral than that. Like free falling; the absolute relinquishment of control as you hurtle through the ozone, the earth rising up at you as the void closes in; death approaching at a hundred miles per hour.

You couldn’t compare it to any other sensation. I’d seen kids trying to mimic it on tiny dirt bikes painted up like NASCARS; their little legs spinning the pedals like turbines as they tried to reach just a lick of that speed. To feel the breeze on their face; the closest you could get to freedom in the tiny township of Hawkins, Indiana. That rush didn’t touch the one I felt when I rode my Triumph, hitting 80 as I threaded through standstill traffic; the reaper breathing down my neck.

But like all great rides; it came to an end too soon, the nondescript flat roofed shape of Hawkins High rapidly approaching. I pulled into the parking lot, cruising through row after row of dusty cars; from the beat up old Pacard, to the shiny new Chevy.

I parked a couple of rows before the school, swinging my leg over my saddle as I finally accepted my joy ride was over and I’d have to land back on earth.

“Hey; Lola!” A familiar voice rang out as I pulled off my helmet, shaking my hair loose, less the dreaded helmet hair take hold.

Nancy Wheeler; Hawkins High’s very own Miss Perfect, the princess of Indiana. She was the daughter fathers dreamed of; pretty in a girl next door kind of way, well behaved, a high achiever; the kind to bring home boys who got her back by ten and kissed goodbye at the door. I got called other things. Jail bait, wild child; a lawsuit waiting to happen. Well meaning grandparents used girls like me as a cautionary tale to expecting parents on what too little discipline did to ‘nice little girls’.

Not that I didn’t like Nancy. She was nice, and Steve’s girlfriend too. Besides, being a princess was hard; a lot of expectations to live up to, a lot of hopes to let down. I never had that problem, and with her cotton candy smile; I couldn’t help but give one in return.

“Hey Nance” I chirped, placing my helmet on the back of my motorcycle and knowing damn well no one would dare touch it.

“Steve was just wondering if you’d take a look at his college application...” She began, and I could see the flustered figure in question trailing behind her.

“He’s been finding it hard to find the right words, and we know how you never get tongue tied.” She joked, and I took it at face value; I was getting A’s, despite the perception that girls like me were only good at one thing and one thing only.

“Is that so, Steve?” I asked, unable to hide my smugness as I stared at him, despite his insistence on avoiding eye contact.

There was nothing I enjoyed more than really digging into him. It was just too easy; to push all his buttons. Of course; he did the same in return, but who really had more to lose? The self proclaimed king of Hawkins High, or his leather clad sidekick?

“Yeah, sowouldyoutakealookatit?” He mumbled, rubbing his nose as if he could hide the words as you would a cough.

“I’m sorry, Steve. I didn’t quite get that.” I purred with all forced sweetness and sacharine smiles. I could never resist the urge to really twist the knife.

“I said, would you take a look at it...” he sighed; a visible strain on the admission of inferiority.

“Please...” He added, drawing a smile to my lips. Sweet, stubborn Steve; too good to ask for help, and just desperate enough to need it; but then what are friends for?

“Sure thing Harrington...” I grinned, finally plucking the crumpled stack of papers from Nancy’s grasp. “Would love to.” I removed my gaze from him, savouring the rare look of humbleness on his face, and turned it upon the paper.

——————————————-

Steve Harrington was many things. Charismatic. Caring. Rich. Good looking. A great guy with almost endless good qualities, but smart wasn’t one of them. I’d spent the best part of a quarter of an hour troweling through his paper with about as much joy as a prospector in a dry well, but was yet to strike gold.

It really was garbage, and that was treating it nicely, but still both me and Nancy tried our best to revive a corpse; not because we felt there was anything worth saving, but because it was Steve, and we cared about his future; even if it was doomed to culminate behind a deep fat fryer in a fast food joint.

My eyes trailed across line after line of smudged ink; much of it crossed out and rewritten in the margins, trying to make sense of whatever it was he was trying to convey in a comparison between WW2 and a basketball game between us and Northern.

“And did you...” I said; pointing out a particular eyebrow raising line, talking about the all American value of victory.

“Yeah; that’s what I thought...” She agreed, picking up off my tone and honing in on the line in question.

“Uh huh” I mumbled reading onwards on what was a virtual mine field of badly used metaphors and poorly linked stories.

Steve didn’t seem to fare much better than his essay, pacing restlessly up and down a small stretch of parking lot, reminding me distinctly of an expecting father in the delivery room. However; his midwives were much more willing to take our time perfecting the delivery of his academic baby.

“And don’t you think...” Nancy trailed of, redirecting my attention to a sentence circled in red marker. Another misused simile courtesy of the genius that is Steven Harrington.

“My thoughts exactly.” I concurred, knowing that we were both desperately avoiding as coming across as purposely nitpicky with his work.

A loud, impatient sigh interrupted our conversation as Steve’s nerves finally reached their limit.

“I’m sorry, but are you girls anywhere near done?” He asked, drawing our attention away from the paper and up to his signature Steve Harrington pose; hands perched on his hips.

“We were just trying to find some constructive criticism to give you...” She began her tidy little avoidance bullshit; the kind that came with years of forced diplomacy beneath the perfect four bed suburban roof. The kind of bullshit I couldn’t stand; let alone tolerate. I had to put an end to it.

I strolled up to Steve, shoving the proverbial toilet paper he’d used as an application to his chest in a way that told him loud and clear what the truth about his efforts were.

“She means your paper sucks, man...” I translated; my words holding none of her polish, but all of the dirty intentions beneath.

“I wasn’t going to say that. I was...” She said; already backpedaling the hard truth I’d spilt onto the table.

Steve just gave her a look. He knew she was lying; if only to save his feelings. He may not have been smart, but he wasn’t stupid.

“Okay; it’s a little suckish, but nothing we can’t fix...” She offered in consolation; a weak smile the most she could offer in her lie.

I was about to object, knowing the hole she was digging the both of us was deeper than we could deliver upon, when a grisly roar overshadowed all thought. I knew the sound well; all eyes turning to it’s source, the newest arrival to Hawkins.

A Chevy Camaro; older, probably fixed up by some dedicated hobby mechanic with too much time on his hands. I’d seen hundreds of them in the shop in varying states of rustiness; most beyond repair, but still, some insistent gashead would insist it could be done, sinking fistfuls of dollar into what was essentially raising the titanic.

“Nice car.” Nancy remarked, and for a princess like her to notice, it must be true. It was in good shape. Baby blue with just the slightest of wear on the paint; someone took a lot of care with their baby. Fuck; if I had one, I probably would too!

“Yeah, but I bet the backseat is a nightmare.” Joked Steve; insecurity seeping into what was meant to be a light dig.

Not the only man with a nice ride on the block now.

His dig fell short when the driver stepped out, hard rock pounding in his stead.

Pretty; was my first thought. Like his car, he had all the well tailored ruggedness that created the perfect balance between pretty boy and rebel. Blonde haired, blue eyed; think James Dean if he had a mullet. His clothes looked good too; double denim that clung to him like a second skin, with a white t shirt that really left nothing to hide.

Smoking a cigarette with movie star casualness, if I’d seen him in a movie, I’d be drooling. But this wasn’t a movie; this was Indiana, and I’d seen too many of his type roll up to Charlie’s in pretty cars with prettier faces thinking it meant the world owed them something. That that something was hidden somewhere down the denim shorts I wore so religiously.

I’d had it with pretty boys. They could all go jump off a bridge.

And as if he was already decided to live up to the cliche, he went and cemented it when he strolled past us, dripping sex and arrogance; his eyes trailing up and down me like I was something to be bartered for, like I could be bought.

“What an asshole.” Sneered Steve, taking the words out of my mouth, and I almost smiled; because of course he’d be the one to say it.

But I didn’t; not when the new kid was leering at me with all the restraint of a hungry dog.

I watched him lick his lips; that’s right, lick. his. lips. Pink tongue peaking out past too perfect teeth, running across a full bottom lip. I tried telling myself it wasn’t sexual. That it was just a private little tick that he couldn’t control. But his eyes had never left me; a dark grin that promised any number of sins stretched across a heartbreaker’s face.

“Yeah. An asshole.” I agreed; the word rolling off my tongue automatically, but I don’t think my heart was in it. That frightened me.

That, and the small itch in my stomach that grew every time his bright baby blues met my green.

Finally; those blues relented, tongue disappearing behind white teeth as he shot me a smile that could’ve sent knees buckling. A quick wink and he was done, strutting into Hawkins High like a stormy breeze that was sure to rock the entire school.

“Hey Lo. You listening?” Came Steve’s voice through a fog of cigarette smoke and gasoline; the smell reminiscent of home, despite its cause being far from homely.

“Yeah. Sure...” I replied, tearing my eyes from where the newcomer had disappeared into the school.

“Let’s get to class before we’re late.” I said, shouldering my bag as if it was any other Monday morning. And it was.

Just another manic Monday.


	2. Chapter 2 - Look Ma; No Hands!

_Algebra... Algebra... Algebra..._ ** _Where the hell did I put it?!_** _I was gonna be late!_ The inside of my locker was an absolute trash heap, and somewhere amongst my cafeteria receipts and a dozen half filled notebooks was my algebra textbook. 

The one I needed in less than five minutes, unless I wanted to flunk another test. 

But there was no use panicking; it wouldn’t make it come to me any sooner. So instead I slid on my headphones and started up my Walkman, trusting the sounds of Blondie to remind me to chill. That there was more to life than complex mathematics.

I’d played the tape so much, my dad swore I should’ve worn it out, but whether by _divine intervention_ or just pure luck; my copy of Parallel Lines was still going strong. Five years old and already a classic in my eyes. _Yet another thing me and the princess agreed on._

“ _I’m in the phone booth; it’s the one across the hall..._ ” Debbie Harry launched straight into the start of Hanging On The Telephone, and I did too; my voice following along as my hands continued to search for the missing textbook. _“If you don’t pick up, I’ll just ring it off the wall. I know he’s there, but I just had to call...”._

Suddenly; I felt the sharpest sting on my asscheek, alongside an almighty **fleshy slap** that continued to burn afterwards. _Some yuppie prick had just slapped me._

_Steve fucking Harrington._ That smug little asshole was getting **far** too cocky with his jokes, but I was going to wipe that smug smile straight off that pretty boy face. “ _You are so going to regret that..._ ” I growled, pulling off my headphones as I turned and prepared to slap the boy silly.

**_Shit_**! I wasn’t confronted with the lanky frame of the rich boy I knew and loved. Instead I was confronted with _six feet of denim-wearing muscle_. My eyes flew up to the face I _really_ didn’t want to see; leaning casually against Steve’s locker like he owned it.

“ _The name’s Billy. Billy Hargrove_.” He purred in a deep voice that probably wet panties; and even up close, he was gorgeous, with pretty blue eyes surrounded by eyelashes that would make any girl jealous. “ _You got a name_?” He asked; almost as if he’d forgotten completely that he’d opened this conversation with assault.

**_Jesus_**! _Was he really that much of an asshole, or was he just_ _plain stupid?_ Judging by the smirk on his face; I was going to go with the first, but no worries, I’d dealt with plenty of assholes before.

“ _Actually; yeah_...” I began, channeling Nancy Wheeler and forcing a polite smile that said “ _No; I don’t mind that you slapped me, and I’d probably let you do it again_.” I pulled my books out of my locker, giving up on passing algebra for the sake of burning this sucker.

“ _It’s_.... **go fuck yourself.** ” I deadpanned, storming away from the _Billy the blonde haired bastard_. I really hoped I’d wiped the smile off his pretty face and that it’d sting as much as his slap did, but _apparently_ I’d been too ambitious.

“ _Cute_...” He drawled and I could already tell he was following; his long legs allowing him to catch up with ease. “But that still doesn’t answer my question...” He was walking beside me now, keeping step like we’d done this a thousand times before; _like I_ _actually_ _wanted_ _him to be there._

“I’m sorry, but is there a reason why we’re still talking?” I asked incredulously; still not quite believing this guy was _so far up his own ass_ that he still hadn’t got the message that **I. WAS. NOT. INTERESTED.**

“ _Depends_...” He shrugged with such casualness; I almost laughed. It was like he was immune to my sarcasm. But still, something about my own _sadistic curiosity_ made me wanna ride this train wreck in full, so I took the bait. “On what?” I asked; quirking an eyebrow, as if challenging him to try me.

“ _On whether you’re free this Friday or not._..” He retorted; and **_Jesus Christ,_** _was that the best line he could come up with?_!Still, someone had to put this fool in his place.

“ _Look_...” I said; spinning round to face every rugged inch of self confidence and cheap cologne. “I’m gonna take it easy on you because you’re new here, and _clearly_ that hairspray you use killed off half your brain cells...” I lectured; surprised that his pumped up form didn’t even shrink an inch under my scrutiny.

“ _But you lay a hand on_ ** _me_** _, or_ ** _my ass_** _again;_ and it will be the last time you have hands.” I threatened, but for this guy; I’d make it a promise. “ _Got it_?” I asked; still annoyed that he continued to stand there with that self loving smile on his face.

To my surprise; he stepped back, raising his hands up as if he was finally surrendering on his crusade, but I couldn’t believe him; not with that smirk still present. “ _No hands..._ ” He purred, but something told me he was thinking about a lot more than hands.

I wanted to chew him out, but that would’ve been just what he wanted, so I did what I previously thought was the coward’s thing to do; I walked away. But even with my back to that smug asshole; I could still **feel** his eyes on me the whole time, _leering_ like some sick voyeur as he watched me walk down the hall.


	3. Chapter 3 - Come Get Sheetfaced!

“ ** _Come and Get Sheetfaced_**.” _Clever wordplay, if you were in fourth grade._ The crude illustration of what was supposed to be a tipsy ghost did little more to advertise the _marketing genius_ of head cheerleader and reigning bitch queen Tina.

She’d shoved the neon orange monstrosity into my hand with all the finesse of a football player, cornering both me and Steve on our way out of third period Chem. 

“ _Hope you’ll both come_.” She chirped, though I wondered how much of her enthusiasm had been aimed at me, and how much was for my much more agreeable compatriot.

I never liked Tina. Not since she stuck gum in my hair in sixth grade, forcing my dad to get the scissors to my hair when peanut butter failed. It was okay though; I rocked a Mohawk. She’d always been a bitch, but that was fine; she thought I was one too. _At least we understood each other._

So; for the sake of appearances, and the almighty sacrifice of actually getting along with some of the populars, I took the damn flyer, determined to dispose of it at a more convenient time.

“ _So Tina’s throwing another Halloween bash. That should be cool.”_ Commented Steve, rushing up to walk beside me with his flyer in hand.

I just gave him a look, because Steve already knew what I thought about Tina and how little her boozefests appealed to me.

“ ** _Come on, Lo._** _It could be fun to let loose a little.._.” He continued to try and convince me with one of those easy smiles that worked so well on Nancy. On me; _not so much._

“ _Drink a little, dance a little._ ** _Get crazy_** _!”_ He grinned, wide eyed with his hands in the air, as if he could embarrass me into relenting.

“ _Speak for yourself. I’ve had enough crazy in this past year to last a lifetime.”_ I half joked, but it came off flat. We’d both seen what Hawkins was truly capable of. The kind of horror movie tropes that didn’t even belong on the midnight feature.

Steve’s smile had fallen a little; his happy-go-lucky attitude more forced as of late. It had me wondering how deep that night had really cut him; how many nightmares had him staying awake in the middle of the night.

I’d seen my fair share of shit; been pretty much born into the middle of it. It took a hell of a lot to faze me, and some weird Venus flytrap looking monster wasn’t going to be the thing to send me overboard.

Steve was different.

He was born into the life of perfect privilege; his dad a highflying lawyer in some fancy business firm, his mom a bonafide 50s catalogue housewife. He was a picket fence away from Nancy Wheeler level of holiday special suburban dream, but I suppose being filthy rich stretched some of the parameters substantially.

Sure; he had his problems. The fact that his dad was having an affair on his mom was Hawkins worst kept secret, but his mom was no idiot, and kept Mr Harrington on a tighter leash than a Rottweiler in heat. That meant Steve had his first taste of independent living, with a bachelors pad that could rival Hugh Hefner.

What Steve could see in a girl like me was a mystery. _I guess I was pretty; in a drug addict kind of way,_ and my jokes weren’t _too_ bad once you got past the fact that my humour was drier than the panties of an eighty year old virgin.

Still; Steve could do so much better. He had _Nancy_ , and _Tommy_ , and _Carol_ and a _whole list_ of populars who were just lining up for a minute of his time.

**_King Steve_** ; they said, though I guess every court needed an outcast. A black sheep to do the dirty work and keep the king’s confidence when his crown got a little off kilter.

“ _Please don’t make me go to this alone._ ” He asked; and the honesty in his voice was almost enough to break me entirely. It was easy to forget that being royalty could be draining at times; even for someone as naturally charismatic as Steve.

“ _You won’t be alone. You’ve got Nancy.”_ I remarked, honing in on the one indisputable point in my argument for playing hooky just this once.

“ _Yeah, but it won’t be the same...”_ Steve argued, though his tone was still light; eyes trailing up to the ceiling as if he saw something interesting up there.

“ _She doesn’t scare people off half as well.”_ He joked and I couldn’t help but chuckle, because Steve had the vanity to glance at me to see if he’d won on such cheap shot.

“ _Steve Harrington; are you asking me to be your bodyguard?_ ” I asked; a smile still stretched across my face because I could play his game too, _and fuck; if I wasn’t gonna beat him at it._

“ _Bodyguard’s a strong word._ ** _More like assassin._** _You can stop me from saying something stupid before Nance kills me for it_.” He retorted, and despite our conversation resting firmly in joking territory; I couldn’t help but hear some truth in there.

“ _Think the word you’re looking for is babysitter.”_ I corrected him, because I wasn’t quite ready for this conversation to turn serious again just yet.

“ _Well; you always did say I was immature for my age_.” Steve concurred, because only he could make self deprecation seem like a winning strategy.

“ _So will you come_?” He asked; all jokes aside, because I could only dance around the question for so long.

“ _Steve; I’m sure you’ll be fine without me_.” I replied, my voice soft and sincere.

As much as I liked to joke otherwise; he really didn’t need me to hold his hand through everything. He was more capable than me; at least when it came to social settings. I just lurked in the background with a drink in my hand, looking every inch the outsider in my muted shades of black leather.

“ _Doesn’t mean I don’t want you there.”_ He countered, and it brought a smile to my face.

After all this time things hadn’t changed. He was still Happy-go-lucky Harrington; dumb perky rich boy with too much hair and not enough sense, and I was still Hellfire Hopper; bitter as a sour ball and twice as hard to stomach. **_Times changed but people didn’t;_** _not when it came to the things that mattered._

“ _I’ll think about it._ ” I offered sincerely as I opened my locker, because that’s the best he was gonna get out of me without blackmail; and we both knew I had far more on him than he had on me.

Steve just nodded, accepting the compromise as a starting point before hurrying off to basketball practice.

He was sweet like that; quick to trust, and quicker to make a fool of. _We’d really have to fix that some day,_ by for now I was thankful.

I screwed up Tina’s party invitation into a satisfying ball that rather festively resembled a pumpkin, before tossing it into the depths of my locker, soon to be forgotten in a mess of colourful cafeteria receipts.

Steve could grill me about it later, and as it was; his grilling was more like a light toasting; _thank god for small mercies_. His forgiveness was easier to get, and you know what they say; **better to ask for forgiveness than permission.**

—————————————————

I tried to stand my ground; I really did, but when Steve dug his heels in about something, it would take more than hell or high water to move him. For a teenage boy; he _really_ did nag more than a neglected housewife, and I was finally understanding why my dad never remarried.

I’d almost made a clean getaway, right up until the last bell before final period when I’d opened my locker and that perfect shaped ball of orangeness decided to fall at the feet of one Steve Harrington. He’d unscrunched it, despite my insistence that it was a used cafeteria napkin and probably had something gross like chewed gum in it. _Then his face fell,_ and it hit me like a punch in the gut.

Steve didn’t pick many hills to die upon; always was more of a lay down and roll over kind of guy, but when he picked them; he’d hold them valiantly. Honesty was one of those noble qualities that Steve valued so highly, and was one of the things I could _definitely_ live without.

In the Hopper household; dishonesty was a proud trait held up with the likes of pettiness and just pure grit. If it didn’t kill anyone; it could go without saying, and if it did; _well, we’d dealt with that before too._

With Steve, my dishonesty had always been a point of strain, testing our friendship in a way that was usually reserved for married couples.

**I lied to him.** _He knew that._ Whether it was to save his feelings, or just to save face; I’d lie more than a politician on Inauguration Day, and with **far** more credibility. Usually Steve never took it to heart; understood it came with being friends with a compulsive omitter who avoided social responsibility at all costs, _but this time was different._

After having chewed my ear off for the better part of study period; he’d relented, but only after the promise that I’d go to Tina’s stupid party, _if only to drink her parents booze and_ ** _maybe_** _tp that obnoxious rose bush in her front yard_ , but of course I never told Steve that.

So with a very crinkled flyer in tow, I offloaded my books into my locker, very much not looking forward to going to Melvald’s to pull together a costume that said “ ** _I’m here under duress.”_**

“ _Hey Lola..._ ” Called the unnervingly upbeat voice of Nancy Wheeler, because only she could make Halloween a day of sunshine and rainbows.

I turned to her, noting Jonathan standing beside her with yet another one of Tina’s orange monstrosities in hand. _Was_ ** _everyone_** _going to this party?_

“ _See; even Lola’s going..._ ” She said to Jonathan and I was suddenly aware I’d walked into a conversation I wasn’t sure I wanted to be part of.

“ _What?”_ I asked, thinking that if this conversation was about what I think it was, Nancy was being awfully presumptuous.

That, or Steve had a far bigger mouth than I gave him credit for. _Scratch that; Steve_ ** _did_** _have a big mouth._

“ _I was just telling Jonathan that he should totally come with us to Tina’s party.”_ She informed with such conviction; I half believed that Steve had somehow managed to talk me into some pseudo double date neither parties had an interest in going on.

“ _Actually, I was thinking of skipping this year instead and staying in with my dad_.” I peddled in with the lamest excuse in the book, which wasn’t _entirely_ a lie.

I was planning on staying in; _with Eleven, not my dad_ , but the night’s itinerary would be roughly the same; too much candy and bad horror movies.

“ _What?!”_ Nancy exclaimed, and for a minute she reminded me of Steve.

“ _What the hell is wrong with you people?_ ” She lamented, as if the idea of anyone shunning the moral wasteland of a popularity contest that was Tina’s Halloween party was foreign to her.

Jonathan got it; his smile was testament to that.

Ever the social outcast; sometimes I felt like he was the only other person who had no desire to be involved with the social niceties that came with being part of the in crowd.

“ _Sorry Nance. Looks like some people aren’t interested in getting_ ** _sheet faced_** ” He joked; and I laughed because I was glad I wasn’t the _only_ one who thought that pun was _total trash._

Nancy soon realised her approach wasn’t working; the social outrage over the rejection of the party of the year hardly a relevant motivator to those who’d already accepted their place at the outskirts of society.

Instead she took a new angle; putting those optional classes on investigative journalism to good use.

“ _Okay. You’re gonna go trick or treating and you’re gonna be home by eight..._ ” She began, realising Jonathan was the easier target and taking advantage of that as we strolled towards the school exit.

“ _Listening to..._ ** _The Talking Heads_** _... and reading_ ** _Vonnegut_** _, or something...”_ She plucked the words out of thin air, summarising Jonathan’s existence beautifully in a a harsh combination of _vain existentialism_ and _edgy romanticism_ , because _maybe he was a cliche;_ but so was me, Steve and Nancy if we were being honest.

Jonathan just shrugged, unfazed at her attempt to highlight his predictability.

“ _Sounds like a nice night..._ ” He commented, and I laughed, because I could see what he was doing there; and it had nothing to do with his love of American New Wave.

“ _Sure does; could you use a plus one?”_ I teased, aiding him in his attempt to drive Miss Nancy Wheeler wild with incredulousness.

“ _Come on guys! Don’t be a bore!”_ She griped, because she knew reasoning was getting nowhere, and immaturity may be more Steve’s thing; _but my god; if it wasn’t effective!_

“ ** _Okay, Okay!”_** I relented, only because I’d agreed this much with Steve, but Nancy didn’t need to know that.

However, she did need to know the very strict conditions of my attendance which I wouldn’t budge over.

“ _But if the new guy so much as_ ** _looks_** _at me; I swear to god I’ll...”_ I began, but couldn’t quite finish before I was swept up in someone’s arms.

Normally being hoisted two feet up in the air would be a cause for alarm, and the shriek I let out was _far_ too feminine for me to pass it off as anything else.

Of course; when the raucous laughter of no other than Steve Harrington was muffled into the back of my jacket, the shock quickly wore off.

“ ** _Jesus Christ_** _, Steve! Don’t do that_!” I lectured as soon as my boots touched the floor; reaching out to slap him on the shoulder, just in case he got any other ideas for unwelcome surprises.

“ _Why? You loved it when we were kids..._ ” He countered, releasing his grip around my waist so he could look at me with that dumb too-happy smile.

“ _Yeah; when I was twelve and you were at least a foot shorter...”_ I snapped back, because _of course_ ; _Steve would still act like we were in middle school_ ; **_immature little shit that he was!_**

Still; my chastisements always fell short when it came to Steve; his smile just a little too bright to be dimmed by something as dull as maturity and personal space.

Instead; he just beamed down at me, still resembling that lanky kid who’d give me piggybacks all those years ago. **_Same old Steve._**

“ _And how is the most beautiful girl in the world?_ ” He asked; his attention finally turning to his _actual_ girlfriend, who was waiting far more politely for him than I’d have in her shoes.

“ _Who?_ ** _Me?_** ” She asked incredulously; a teasing lilt in her tone, only emphasised by the exaggerated hand on the chest routine. “ _I thought you were talking about Lola.”_

Despite her slight dig, there was no love lost between the pair; teasing giving way to pure gooey eyes that would’ve made me barf from anyone else.

Steve And Nance were lucky I liked them enough for it to be endearing. _Then they started kissing and_ ** _all bets were off._**

“ _And that’s our cue to leave...”_ I commented, grabbing Jonathan by the arm and towing him away before tongues came into play.


	4. Chapter 4 - Stick 'Em With The Pointy End

**_Silence was a clever man’s counsel_** ; I’d once heard said, but in my family that translated to “ _You have the right to remain silent, but anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law.”_ The court was my dad’s car, and the judge, jury and executioner was sitting in the driver seat right next to me.

I knew I’d have to broach the topic of Tina’s party soon; something that for most teenage daughters would be a daunting subject, but not for me. There were few benefits to having a near absentee dad, but almost complete autonomy was one of them _. If it was outside his house and didn’t end up with me down the station, it was pretty much fair game._

What was actually swimming in my mind was very different; nearly two hundred pounds of tempered muscle wrapped in denim was doing laps in there. I hadn’t actually seen Billy since our little confrontation in the hallway, but something inside me told me that wouldn’t be the end of it; _not if he had a say in it._

The fact he thought he did alone was infuriating. I’d had boys cross boundaries before; get a little too handsy on the dance floor or try tongues mid kiss, but none had tried it straight out of the starting gate; _let alone without breathing a word to me first._

Billy was trouble; that was clear. His own distinctive brand of trouble that smelt like cigarette smoke and human depravity, but somehow he managed to make even _that_ into a commodity worth buying.

He’d fool some girls with it; have them falling into his bed by the end of the week, the backseat of his car if they just couldn’t wait that long. Hopefully others would see sense; though I was beginning to doubt that judging by the looks he got in the hallways.

“ _You’ve been awful quiet Lo_...” Dad spoke, breaking through the silence and into my thoughts.

“ _You been having trouble with the girls at school again?_ ” He asked, concern ripe in his voice as his blue eyes met mine.

It’d been true that some of the girls had been less than pleasant to me, and I’d confided in my dad about it, hoping for some of that parental insight they preached about in TV shows.

Dad’s advice of “ _kick them in the pants”_ seemed a poor choice of defence when it came to gossiping cheerleaders, but then what did I expect from the shoot first, ask questions later Chief of Hawkins Police.

I could’ve probably spun something about Tina being catty to me again, because let’s be honest; _when_ ** _wasn’t_** _she being a bitch?_ But dad had his detectives face on today, and I knew my get out of jail free card was best spent when I really needed it.

“ _Just boy trouble_.” I deflected, avoiding eye contact, because although underhanded; the right to omission was still a strong standing defence in domestic court.

“ _Harrington been bothering you?”_ He queried, and I almost choked on the suggestion.

“ ** _What?! No!_** ” I blurted out, shocked that even after all these years, dad still hadn’t learnt to trust Steve.

“ _Steve’s cool._ ” I insisted; my tone dropping back to one of conversation.

“ _It’s just..._ ” I began, but I wasn’t sure if I should finish, because dad really wasn’t known to be the levelheaded type.

Telling him the truth about Billy would be like waving red flags in front of a bull; I would just be _asking_ for disaster, but if I could broach the topic lightly, I might just have a chance at survival.

“ _There’s this new guy at school..._ ” I said; the ambiguity in my voice hopefully hiding my uncertainty at sharing this.

My dad reached over and squeezed my leg; his hand a steadying comfort as he tried to resolve things the only way he knew how.

“ _Lo; if some guy’s been giving you trouble, I can come in and...”_

“ ** _No!_** ” I butted in; not giving him a chance to finish that sentence, because I could already see the outcome of that situation and it would not be pretty.

“ _No dad. It’ll be fine._ ” I attempted to reassure him, thankful we’d finally reached home so I could make a swift exit from this conversation. “ _I’m sure it will all just blow over.”_

I ducked out of the car and attempted to walk away, already knowing this entire conversation was a mistake that I’d probably end up paying for at some point.

“ _Lola..._ ” Dad stopped me, grabbing my arm because he knew what I was doing; that when it came to parenting, we’d both prefer to pick up and run than face what was right in front of us.

I waited for him to say something; warm blue eyes so different from mine looking at me; _and I mean_ ** _really_** _looking at me for once._

“ _You know; you should never let someone push you around...”_ He began, and I had a feeling we’d had this conversation before, and it usually culminated with another suggestion of “ _kick them in the pants.”_

“ _Or make you do anything you don’t wanna do...”_

That part resonated more soundly. _Dad was trying; he really was._ He wasn’t gonna say what we were both thinking outright; the suggestion far too unsettling and vulnerable for it to come out of a Hopper’s mouth, but we both knew what he was warning me about.

“ _Yeah dad; I know._ ” I nodded, staring at the dirt, because we both knew what I was really scared of.

Dad was a cop back in New York too, and far too often he’d turn up on scene to pretty young girls with bruises and tears on their faces.

“ _And if they do try and push you..._ ” Dad said, reaching into his pocket and I half expected him to pull out a dollar for the store, just like when I was a kid.

He grabbed one of my closed fists from my sides; my nails digging sharply into the meat of my palms as if they could ground me, before prying open my fingertips.

“ _Ain’t nothing wrong with defending yourself_.” He stated with a cool calmness, depositing something smooth and square in my upturned palm.

I glanced down at where our hands met, spotting the worn grain of his penknife nestled in my hand.

“ _Dad; I don’t think..._ ” I began, nerves and regret already bubbling up in my throat at the sight of the weapon in my hands; the weight of its purpose already too much for me to hold.

“ _Don’t think...”_ Dad insisted; his voice soft but firm as he forced my grip around the knife with a subtle reassuring squeeze, as if he’d just given me that shiny dollar and not a sharpened blade.

“ _Just do what the situation calls for._ ”

He squeezed my hand once more and released; his meaning already clearly conveyed with such a subtle gesture.

Dad never did anything without purpose; he was strong willed like that, resolute in his ways.

He gave me the knife with every intention that I should use it if necessary, and let him handle the consequences of the inevitable fallout.

I’m not sure I could commit to that. _I wasn’t my dad;_ ** _I wasn’t a soldier_** , but when he stared me down with those cold, uncompromising eyes, I nodded.

**_Because I was a Hopper;_ ** _and a Hopper didn’t take crap from anybody._


	5. Chapter Five - And I Would've Got Away With It Too...

When Eleven had knocked on the door of my room at five in the morning; I’d half expected the typical complaint of a nightmare that had been so commonplace back when Sara was around. 

To my surprise, she looked anything but spooked when I opened the door; eyes already wide and perky from an early start of kids TV.

“ _Happy Halloween._ ” She said; sounding more like an alien come to earth to learn our traditions, than any sincere well wisher, but I smiled anyway, because it was cute that the kid was trying to be normal.

“ _It’s four in the morning._ ” I stated; arms crossed across my chest despite the smile peaking on my face.

She just stared at me; brown eyes comically large as the Scooby Doo Theme filled the silence.

“ _Is there a reason you’re waking me up this early, or are you just being_ ** _super_** _prepared?_ ” I asked; already aware that if I wanted to uncover the kids true intentions, I’d have to pull them from her like teeth.

“ ** _Costume_**.” She stated; the word seemingly unrelated if not for the worn bedsheet clutched in her fingertips.

I took it from her, inspecting the pulls of the threads and the discolouration of stains spread across the fabric.

“ _You know; usually people only wear costumes because they’re gonna go trick or treating or something..._ ” I stated, still not quite understanding where she’d found a sheet that should’ve been thrown out years ago.

“ _I want to go trick or treating.”_ She stated; the sentence so broken that you could almost believe English was her second language.

I looked at her; those big brown eyes still staring up at me with all the conviction of a blood Hopper.

_I really should say no. Dad would lose his_ **_shit_ ** _if he thought for one minute she was going outside the cabin._

Still; there was no harm in indulging her, _not really._ And just maybe dad was having a good day this week; **stranger things had happened.**

——————————————————-

Springing Eleven’s costume on dad mid-breakfast prep _probably_ wasn’t the smartest idea, but the longer I’d wait; the less chance the kid had of doing anything but watching Munster reruns for the rest of Halloween.

She looked cute in her little ghost costume; the whole homemade sheet thing looking very E.T., and judging by the way dad jumped at the sight of her; the classics still had some life left in them.

“ ** _Oh; Jesus!_** ” He exclaimed, nearly dropping the hot pan he’d been frying bread on moments earlier.

“ _Ghost_.” She said, repeating the word she’d heard on Scooby Doo mere hours ago.

“ _Yeah; I can see that...”_ He agreed; his voice already strained as he shovelled slightly burnt toast onto plates, and already I knew this was gonna be a hard sell.

“ _Cute; right?_ ” I asked; hoping our shared affection for the kid might break down a few walls and put us on an even playing field.

He just mumbled in agreement, avoiding eye contact as he dumped the hot pan into a sink full of water; his lack of words a clear signal that **_no; he wasn’t willing to negotiate with us._**

“ ** _Halloween_**.” Eleven stated to him; the word harder now than it had been with me, as if she’d already picked up on how exactly this conversation was going to go.

“ _Sure is...”_ Dad lilted; sarcasm dripping from the tone, because Hopper’s were nothing if not _painfully dry_ in their sense of humour.

“ ** _But right now it’s breakfast; okay._** ” He continued; sounding overly patronising before returning to normal. “ _Come on. Let’s eat.”_

“ ** _They wouldn’t see me_.**” Eleven petitioned;already launching straight into negotiations with all guns blazing.

“ _Who wouldn’t see you?_ ” Dad asked calmly as he made his way over to the kitchen table; already deciding he’d humour her for now.

“ _The bad men.”_ Eleven stated; the words coming across as painfully naive.

“ _What are you talking about?”_ Dad asked, scrunching up his brows as he sat down to eat.

“ ** _Trick or treat._** ” Eleven said; adding my words to her arsenal like they were bomb shells.

“ _Wait;_ ** _what?_** ” Dad asked; the reality of the exact type of negotiation he’d just been roped in on dawning upon him.

_“I said I’d take her out trick or treating tonight..._ ” I jumped in, hoping to save her from some of dad’s scorn when he inevitably blowed on us.

“ ** _Wait, wait, wait..._** ” Dad interrupted me; already well versed in the ritual of Hopper to Hopper negotiation, and knowing I could hammer my point home harder than a home run.

“ _You said she could go_ ** _trick or treating?_** _”_ He spat the words like they were curses; bitter sounding and hard to pronounce.

“ _Yeah; I knew you wouldn’t let her go alone, and I figured you wouldn’t get back in time, so I thought..._ ” I peddled in with my hastily rehearsed pitch, knowing that the more words I could cram in; the better chance I had of winning him over.

“ _Lola_...” Dad got to his feet; disapproval dripping from his tone to match the frown on his face. “ _You_ ** _both_** _know the rules.._.”

I sighed, rolling my eyes because I already knew this battle was lost, _but poor sweet naive El still had some fight in her._

“ _Yes, but..._ ” She butted in; hope still bright in her eyes as she blocked dad’s path to the front door.

He was already resorting to the Hopper’s go to escape tactic when it came to emotional confrontation; **all out denial.**

“ ** _So you already know the answer..._** ” He insisted, attempting to slide past her despite her superior agility.

“ _No, but they wouldn’t see me...”_ She continued, desperation peaking in her voice as she realised the moment dad walked out that door, _it was game over._

“ ** _Come on, dad_**!” I petitioned, because _really; this was petty even for him_. The least he could do was let the kid loose once in a while.

**_“I don’t care!”_** Dad stated; anger rising up through his veneer of calm, his patience already worn thin.

“ _But they wouldn’t see me..._ ” El continued to plead; tears breaking her voice slightly.

**_“I don’t care; alright?!”_** Dad insisted, crouching down to her meagre height so he could look her in the eyes.

**_“You go out there; Ghost or not, and it’s a risk.”_** Dad explained, and in any other situation it would seem sensible, if not for the overwhelming paranoia that led him to keep her trapped here all these months.

“ _And you...”_ Dad turned to me, pointing a damning finger like a proclamation of guilt. “ _You should know better._ ”

I rolled my eyes once more, because there was nothing more I could do; he’d already won.

“ _You go out there and I can’t protect you._ ** _Lola can’t protect you.._** _.”_ Dad stated with that same calm firm voice he’d used on me a hundred times before.

Eleven looked at him; eyes wide, but not as bright. She was already accepting defeat.

“ _Look; we don’t take risks, alright?_ ” Dad continued, finally returning to his role as reasonable father, and not domineering patriach.

“ _They’re stupid, and..._ ”

“ ** _We’re not stupid_**.” Eleven finished the sentence for him, repeating the mantra he’d drummed into her a thousand times before.

“ _Exactly_.” Dad smiled, happy that he’d put down our little uprising without so much as a grounding.

“ _Now you go and take that shit off and sit down and eat. Your food’s getting cold...”_

Eleven retreated into her room and I took that as my cue to leave, before dad’s attention finally turned to who he viewed as the instigator of this new push for independence.

I ducked across the room, grabbing my backpack and swiping my keys off the kitchen counter.

“ ** _Uh; where do you think you’re going?”_** Dad asked; easily slipping back into his scolding tone like a comfy pair of slippers.

“ _To school_.” I stated blankly. I wasn’t about to have a shouting match now; not when I already had so much on my mind.

“ ** _Uh no_** _; you get over here and sit down. We’ve got things to talk about.”_ Dad instructed, and as much as I’d like to disobey him and rush out that door; I knew it would only cause me more hassle in the long run.

So I strolled over to the kitchen table with a sigh, refusing point blank to sit down, because I wasn’t about to be _that_ much of a pushover.

When dad realised I wasn’t going to relent; he launched straight into his interrogation, once more donning his Chiefof Police hat with unbridled force.

“ _Now where has all this crap about trick or treating come from?”_ He asked; his hands waving about incredulously, as if the whole situation astounded him.

“ _I_ ** _thought_** _you were meant to be going to a party?_ ”

“ _I was, but I thought it might be better...”_ I pleaded my case, because I’d already planned this far and knew exactly what to say to appease him.

“ ** _Buh, buh, buh.._**.” Dad interrupted; halting my Oscar worthy performance mid-flow.

“ ** _Since when did you decide this_**?” He asked; disapproval and suspicion blending between his words.

_“I wasn’t even gonna go, but then Nancy was talking with Jonathan; and she was like ‘_ ** _Don’t be such a bore_** _.” And then Steve was all like ‘_ ** _you gotta come”_** _... and..._ ” I began to spew, frustration bleeding into my tone, forcing my argument to turn into an opportunity to vent.

Dad held up his hand, stopping me mid gripe before asking “ _Lola; if this is about that boy again...”_

“ _It’s not Dad!_ ” I insisted, rolling my head back, because of course; he’d somehow make this about my personal issues.

**_“Jesus; can we just drop it?!”_ **

Dad was about to snap back with something, when the sound of a door slamming drew both of our attention.

Eleven had emerged from her bedroom, sans bedsheet, and was marching over to the table with a face like thunder.

“ ** _Glad_** _that you could_ ** _join us_** _; now if you could_ ** _both sit down_** _, so we can enjoy this_ ** _lovely_** _breakfast that I...”_ Dad began, resolved to play happy families once more, despite being the only one with a vested interest in it.

“ _I haven’t got time.”_ I interrupted, making my way over to the front door, because dad couldn’t throw Billy in my face after I confided in him, then expect me to _play nice._

“ _Lola_...” Dad called after me, but it was futile. I was already out the door with no intention of turning back.

_That truly was the_ **_last time_ ** _I’d let us discuss things like adults. If he wanted to treat me like the bratty teenager;_ **_I could act like the bratty teenager_ ** _,_ **_starting with Tina’s party_ ** _._


	6. Chapter Six - I Love Playin' With Fire!

**_(x-3)x(y+15)=q-(x+21)_ **_and I_ ** _really_** _couldn’t give a fuck about what x equals right now_. I’d been sitting at this same desk for an hour now; Steve and Nancy either side as they rewrote his application; whilst I tried to help alongside _desperately_ attempting not to fail another algebra test. 

Nance clearly had something on her mind, as her and Steve weren’t making googly eyes at each other half as much as they usually do. **_Trouble in paradise, perhaps?_** _Must be nice_. Meanwhile I couldn’t get a very different brand of trouble out of my head, no matter how much I tried to avoid him.

**Billy Hargrove.** A name that before this week, would’ve meant _nothing_ to me, had gradually become _the scourge of my very existence_. As if his introduction wasn’t problematic enough; he insisted on making me feel like I was a zebra in a lion’s pen at all times.

He didn’t even have to speak for him to become an unbearable nuisance. Just his very presence in the hallway was enough to sour my mood. All the time; I’d feel his eyes on me, whether I was walking in the hallway, or sitting down for lunch. He could be speaking with Tommy H, **or even flirting with another girl** , but still; his eyes would remain fixated on me.

The highlight of my day had to be Mrs McKinley’s English class, where normally Robin Buckley sits behind me, but today Robin was sick, _so guess who had the privilege?_ **_Billy Hargrove_** ; and I didn’t even have Steve to swap seats with; _stupid fucking college application!_

So Billy strolls into class ten minutes late like he bought the place, then decides to _squeeze_ his way past my desk, giving me a not so subtle view of his crotch whilst he smirks the whole time. Then, as if he’s not been enough of _an_ _ass_ ; he seats himself right behind me.

But I ignore him, trying to keep my eyes on the board whilst I’m intensely aware of his on the back of my neck.

However; Billy couldn’t even let me suffer in silence. Instead he leans forward until I can _feel_ his breath on my neck, and asks me “ ** _Can I borrow a pencil?_** ” In a voice that is husky enough that it sent a _shiver_ down my spine; much to my humiliation.

So I turned around and said “ ** _No_** ** _; you can’t borrow a pencil_ ” **and just when I’m about to tell him _exactly_ where he can stick that proverbial pencil, Mrs McKinley notices and asks if anything is wrong.

I was about to assure her that everything was fine and she could go back to teaching her class and I could go back to silently rueing the day Billy’s parents decided to have sex, when of course Mullethead himself had to say something.

_“I was just asking if I could borrow a pencil_.” He remarked; with a smile so sweet, I wanted to slap it into next week.

“ _Well, Miss Hopper; if you could be so kind._..” Mrs McKinley prompted, and despite her polite tone, I knew she had a penchant for handing out detention slips, so I did as she asked.

As I bluntly refused to make any kind of physical contact with the sleaze-ball, I pulled out another pencil from my case and left it on my table well within his reach. But even then; he had to go the extra mile to make me uncomfortable.

He got up from his seat and leaned right over me, till I was practically caged by his body, encased in the scent of Marlboro cigarettes and cologne. He slid his hand forward till it met mine, **totally ignoring the pencil I’d gotten out for him,** in favour of sliding the one out of my hand; dexterous fingers making as much contact with my own as possible.

He then had the cheek to whisper in my ear “ _Thank you, sweetheart_ ” as if any of this had been voluntary, as if he wasn’t a **total creeper.**

But I thanked God above that he was done as I settled back into my work, throwing myself into the life’s work of Dante and wondering which circle of hell Billy would be burning in, when I felt something rub up my leg.

And of course I moved it, thinking maybe the school had rats again and not planning to check any time soon, when it happened again, but this time; a deep chuckle accompanied it. I dared a look behind me at the unsuitably smug asshole as he shot me a wink and a kiss as if this was so amusing to him.

So the next time he did it, I kicked him; **hard**. But he was too fast, so before my motorcycle boot could make contact, his leg was gone; along with my patience.

But what could I do? If I made a scene; Mrs McKinley was sure to write me up for detention, so I had no choice but to suffer in silence as Billy Hargrove continued to attempt to play footsie throughout the rest of English class.

———————————

Now with not one, but two classes to catch up on, I couldn’t get that smug son of a bitch out of my head. I needed to get out of here, or else I’d scream. I got up from my seat, grabbing my backpack off an empty chair.

“ _Lo; are you_...” began Steve; concern clear on his face. I continued to grab my jacket, pulling out my pack of smokes.

“ _Yeah. Just need a smoke.”_ I mumbled, and flew out of there before he could start insisting otherwise.

The last thing I needed was a well meaning Steve. He was enough of a hothead without the poking of a known jackass like Billy. Plus; if Jonathan could give Steve a black eye, Billy could pulverise him completely, and that was something I _really_ didn’t need to see.

Instead I cruised through the hallways of Hawkins High, shoving on my leather jacket as I continued on my mission for nicotine and distraction. The front doors were just ahead, which meant I was seconds away from fresh air and heavy smoke.

I’d been right about the fresh air, but the heavy smoke seemed to have other ideas as I struggled to light the Marlboro hanging from my mouth. _Of course;_ ** _today_** _would be the damn day I ran out of lighter fluid; as if it couldn’t get any worse..._

“ _Need a light_?” Quirked a silky smooth Californian accent, and I had to resist rolling my eyes, because _of course; God had a sense of humour._

Still, I turned to him, pulling the smoke from my mouth so I could properly give him a verbal assault on his jackassery this week.

“ ** _Jesus_** _; don’t you have anything better to do with your time?_ ” I groaned, and apparently he didn’t. Standing there with a flickering lighter in hand, an unlit smoke hanging from smirking lips; he made a pretty picture, but one I was _definitely not buying._

“ _Just tryna’ help out”_ He purred, but the friendly neighbour routine really wasn’t working on me. I gave him a look that should’ve said “ ** _really; asshole_?”**

But he took it as a challenge, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow as he flicked the lighter on again.

However annoying Billy Hargrove was, I was fucking desperate for a smoke and had no intention of scouring the whole school for a lighter and risking getting caught by Mrs McKinley again.

So I sighed and rolled my eyes; making it _loud and clear_ I was doing this under duress, then I stepped forward, putting the unlit smoke back in my mouth.

Billy had never looked so smug as he stepped into my space; an intoxicating musk of leather, cigarette smoke, cheap cologne and something else, which was altogether so Billy; it could make me gag.

He towered over me, making a clear effort to make me feel small as he bent down and lit my cigarette; his blue eyes meeting mine over the flame and for a moment, my stomach did backflips.

I stepped back, really not comfortable with getting caught up in this man’s magnetism, taking a drag from my cigarette. The heady taste of tobacco steadying my quickening pulse as I let out a stream of smoke, turning to watch the sun reflect off of car roofs in the parking lot, rather than risk falling into Billy’s eyes.

“ _No thank you?_ ” He said, and I raised an eyebrow because I knew the thank you he had in mind contained no words.

“ _You’re pushing it, Hargrove._ ” I warned, but he took it all in his stride; a million watt smile stretching as he he just stood and watched me, his own cigarette still hanging unlit and forgotten.

“ _So is there a reason you followed me out here, or are you just here to continue being an inescapable pest?_ ” I asked, if just to fill the air with noise, rather than cigarette smoke and some sort of _weird tension_ Billy brought wherever he went.

He gave me a smile, and for a moment; it was _almost_ _sweet_ , before saying “I just wanted to know if you were going to Tina’s party tonight?”

_And of course, I was._ Everyone with even an ounce of social status was going, and even if I didn’t want to; Steve made it _pretty damn clear_ he would have a hissy fit if I wasn’t at his house by seven.

I let out a laugh, because I couldn’t quite believe that I was even _attempting_ having a normal conversation with Billy Hargrove.

“ ** _Does it matter?”_** I asked dryly; _he was asking a stupid question, so why should he get a straight answer._

“ _Well, how else am I supposed to know what you’ll be wearing tonight?_ ” He asked with a smile, and I could almost _feel_ the lion’s jaws closing in around me, but not if I could get there first.

“ _Why? Worried we’ll match?_ ” I offered him my sharpest grin; raised brow included.

He let out a **_dark chuckle_** ; the kind that made your stomach clench whether you wanted it to or not, and leaned in close enough that I could feel his breath tickling my neck.

“ _Need something to get me through afternoon classes_ ” He purred; his hand reaching out to brush at my own; a seemingly innocent gesture that he made _drip_ with sexual intention.

But I wasn’t having it. _Billy could pick some other girl to play porn star in his daytime fantasies._

I stepped closer to him; close enough that I could see the freckles the sun had left on his cheeks and the way the corners of his mouth rose at the newfound close proximity. His eyes flickered down to my mouth; his thoughts crystal clear on his face as his teeth bit down on his lips.

_Not today; sweetheart._

“ _In your dreams; asshole_.” I growled, cramming as much venom as I could in the words.

And if my words weren’t clear enough; I lifted up my still smouldering cigarette, and _pressed it hard against the collar of his denim jacket;_ certain it would leave a nasty mark.

I dropped the cigarette butt to the floor, but to my great annoyance; his smile didn’t even falter.

**_He liked it when I bit back!_ **

So I did the only thing I could do in the situation, and stormed off, leaving an unsuitably smug Billy Hargrove staring at my ass for the second time this week.


	7. Chapter Seven - I'm Here Under Duress

I don’t care what Steve says; Farah Faucett could **_suck my ass_** if she thought her hairspray could hold an inch against Aqua Net.

_I mean; he used the damn Fabrege conditioner, so why he didn’t just use the spray completely dumbfounded me!_

He was stubborn, that’s why, but when his hair fell flat after the third hour, I’d still be sitting pretty with three to four inches of volume; _and now I was sounding like a damn hairspray commercial!_

I don’t even know why I was trying so hard; I didn’t even wanna go to Tina’s stupid party!

Yet here I was smudging red lipstick at the corners of my mouth, because “ _vampire_ ” was the easiest costume I could throw together on short notice.

At least the fangs I picked up at Melvald’s were the good adhesive kind, and not the clunky Dracula ones that’d leave you drooling the whole night.

And it helped that in my new mini skirt; I looked pretty damn hot, if I did say so myself. Dad would probably lock me up if he saw me in it, let alone the fishnets I was rolling over my thighs; the snap of the elastic leaving a red mark on the skin.

Billy Hargrove was gonna drop dead when he saw me in this; **_and why the hell was I thinking about him again?!_**

It’s not like I even liked the asshole; with his _stupid baby blue eyes, and that dumb pretty boy smile_! I just wanted to make him as _frustrated_ as he made me; albeit in a **very** different way.

_He deserved it!_

He’d been a shit all week and if I wanted to make his pants a little tighter than comfortable, it was **my** choice.

And besides; I already got called a tease, so why shouldn’t I live up to the reputation a little bit.

I practically doused myself with a bottle of Poison my dad got me for my sixteenth birthday, entirely unaware of the reputation the scent carried, because if Billy Hargrove could smell like he walked out of a trashy drugstore perfume aisle, **then so could I**. 

With one last fluff of my hair I was pretty much ready to go.

“ _Alright; so there’s dinner in the oven and soda in the fridge..._ ” I announced as I made my way out of the bathroom and across the living room to get my keys. I don’t think El was listening; she was too engrossed in flicking through Friday night television, _typical kid._

Welll; _typical_ , if every kid could change the channel with their mind.

“ _Are you sure you’re gonna be alright until dad’s back?_ ” I asked, entirely aware that although practically super powered; she was still a kid and might not be comfortable being left alone in the middle of the woods for half the night.

“ ** _Five one five.”_** She repeated my dad’s words, as if they meant anything more than wind when put up against Jim Hopper’s terrible timekeeping skills.

I sighed and walked over to her, knowing that for the hundredth time I was going to have to explain the flexibility of my dad’s promises.

“ _Look; I know dad said that, but he’s not the best at keeping promises_..” I began to explain, but El seemed to have picked up on some of that Hopper stubbornness we prided ourselves on.

“ ** _Friends don’t lie_**.” She recited her own little mantra when it came to promises; something she lorded over dad as if he hadn’t been guilt tripped at least _a thousand_ times before.

_“But fathers do...”_ I sighed, knowing that I wasn’t going to get through to her this time.

“ _You sure you’re gonna be okay_?” I asked, dropping myself down on the couch next to her as I decided to change tactics.

“ _Cuz I can stay in if you want me to..._ ” I offered; the idea still sounding more appealing than playing a game of cat and mouse with Billy Hargrove all night.

She didn’t respond; eyes still fixed on yet another soda commercial; _it was true what they said, there really_ ** _are_** _more commercials than actual programmes_.

Her mouth was fixed in a straight line; mind fully focused on the flickering TV set. I didn’t like it.

I reached across to begin tickling her ribcage; something I knew would have her in stitches within seconds.

“ _We can eat junk food and gripe about how much of an ass dad is..._ ” I continued to tempt her between tickles; her grim facade broken by a fit of giggles. Superkid or not; she was still only human.

“ _Stop!_ ** _Stop_** _! I’m fine_!” She insisted between laughter, and I stopped, because I knew she could look after herself; and unlike dad, I liked to give the kid a _little_ leeway when it came to trust.

“ _Are you sure?_ ” I asked; still hesitant to leave her despite the reassurance otherwise.

She gave me a resolute nod, leaving me no choice but to get up from the couch and grab my jacket.

“ _Okay; well, I’ll try not to be out too late.._.” I promised as I shrugged on my leather jacket, still not holding out any hope for dad being home tonight.

I was about to walk out the door, when I remembered something that was sure to put a smile on her face.

“ _Oh; and I almost forgot..._ ” I said, making my way over to her and leaning in to mock whisper in her ear.

“ _There’s Eggos hidden in the back of the icebox.”_

A wide grin spread across her face that told me none of those Eggos would still be there when my dad got home from work.

_Served him right for making promises he can’t keep._

I gave her messy curls a ruffle, making my way back over to the door, before I gave her one last light warning.

_“Just don’t tell dad I told you._ ” I said, before opening the front door and stepping out into the night.

My Triumph waited half hidden by dad’s shed; it’s frame covered by a dust sheet just to further aid the illusion of abandonment.

I stripped it off, pulling the bike upright and mounting up. Keys in the ignition, then a few good kicks of the starter and she was purring like a kitten. Ready for a night of drunkenness and debauchery I wasn’t sure I’d want to remember in the morning.


	8. Chapter Eight - We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off

I’d had to wait an additional twenty minutes at Steve’s house, because despite his _near fanatical dedication to Farah Faucett;_ his hair had continued to fall flat.

Lucky for him, Nancy was there, otherwise I would’ve broken down the damn bathroom door and shaved the birds nest off myself.

Eventually; he’d managed to get his hair to a reasonable level of poofiness, and we’d gotten to Tina’s just an hour after the start time on the flyer; fashionably late without it being too busy to make an entrance. 

Sitting in the backseat of Steve’s thankfully spacious BMW gave me front row seats to the newfound awkwardness between Hawkins most beloved royal couple.

Despite Steve’s insistence that everything was fine between the pair and that Nancy was just still upset about Barb; I couldn’t help but feel there was a bigger void between them than that. One that was gradually getting bigger by the day, judging by the near complete lack of conversation for the entire car ride over.

He wouldn’t even let me talk to her for him; insisting he could handle it himself, but Steve really didn’t know girls like I did.

There was something big on Nancy’s mind; _something that parties and corny jokes alone wasn’t gonna fix_.

“ _That is a lot of carnage_...” Steve remarked, drawing my eyes from the world’s slowest relationship train wreck, to the much more literal train wreck outside my window.

The word “ _carnage_ ” was putting it lightly.

The party had already spilled out onto the street; bodies in varying stages on unconsciousness littering the front lawn like the vast amount of beer cans and bottles surrounding them. Those that were conscious were reveling in a variety of vices, from cigarettes to cheap booze to near _all out sex_ on the AstroTurf. _High school partying at its finest._

“ _Half the school must be here_!” Remarked Nancy; eyes wide at the near renaissance painting of absolute debauchery outside.

“ _You got that right..._ ” Agreed Steve as he slowed his car to park; and if Hawkins High’s keg king said that it was a rager, then she must be right.

Steve eventually found a space just outside Tina’s house; surprising considering the sheer amount of people present, however I guess most people considered a night in Hawkins PD’s cells too steep a price to pay for one night of drinking and dancing.

We got out of the car, and already the music hit our ears at full blast; _someone’s parents were gonna get a lot of noise complaints in the morning._

“We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” was the song of choice, but clearly the song’s message fell on deaf ears, as most of the boys were down to shorts and skins, and the girls in even less.

Steve led the way through the highway to hell, ringing the doorbell to Tina’s, which chimed out in an _almost comedic_ rendition of “Messiah” considering the situation.

Moments later, the door swung open to a smiling Tina, dressed in a skimpy leotard and fishnets, in what must’ve been a cat costume considering the black velvet ears in her perm.

“ _Steve! Nancy!_ ** _Love_** _the costumes_!” She exclaimed with such enthusiasm; it must’ve been partially forced.

“ _Risky Business; right_?” She asked, taking note on the pair’s cute matching black and white combo.

“ _And Lola! You’re_..?” Her ever expanding smile faltered as she struggled to work out what exactly a tartan miniskirt and a Bon Jovi tank top had to do with Halloween.

“ _A vampire._ ” I replied with a fake smile, showing off the plastic fangs glued to my canines. _She wasn’t the only one who could feign enthusiasm_.

“ _Well; you all look so great..._ ” She spieled; that plastic smile returning even quicker than it fell.

“ _Why don’t you come on in and get a drink...”_ She beckoned us in as she led us further into her temporary den of teenage rebellion.

Costume party could be used _very loosely_ to describe what Tina’s Halloween party was.

_People wore costumes alright; ones that made them look sexier, less restrained, more depraved_. Anything from a pair of sunglasses, to an oversized bedsheet counted here; **and trust me** , someone had tried them all. My outfit honestly looked like a nun’s in comparison to some of the other girls.

_Since when did lingerie count as a Halloween costume?_

“ _Looks like a good party_.” Steve remarked, though I wondered if it was only for our host’s sake.

“ _Yeah. If you like cheap liquor and herpes_...” I muttered, earning myself a chuckle from him; _so_ ** _we were_** _on the same page_.

I glanced around the room, unable to believe people had managed to get **this** fucked up in an hour. There had to be some pregaming, or a high amount of class C drugs involved; _definitely drugs_ , judging by the smoke in the air.

_I was definitely gonna have to do the laundry before dad got home._

My eyes glanced over to the living room where some jock was spread out on the coffee table, whilst a line of cheerleaders did body shots off his chest.

_I was definitely gonna need a drink to get through tonight._

“ _I’m gonna go grab a drink...”_ I told Steve, not waiting for a response as I slipped through the crowd towards the kitchen and what would hopefully be semi drinkable booze.

—————————————————

The liquor was shitty; the punch wasn’t much better, but still better to suffer the taste and be drunk, than suffer the company sober.

_God knew there was nothing worse than being the only sober one in a crowd of drunks._

Steve had long abandoned me for his princess, in yet another attempt to drown an underlying uneasiness with cheap alcohol and fake happiness. Jonathan was a no show, b _ut there was no surprises there_ , and I was kinda wishing I’d done the same, even if it’d cost me my left ear to Steve’s nagging.

The only consolation was that Billy Hargrove hadn’t spoken to me once. It was quite possible he hadn’t even noticed me; he was so sucked into the superficial cloud of party popularity that seemed to circle him like a storm.

Every girl in their fake leather biker boots and discount rack leather jackets was hanging off him, in a poor attempt to act as my replacement; _as if being the resident basket case was as simple as smudging on a bit of eyeliner and smoking more Camels than usual._

I don’t think Billy was convinced; his mind so preoccupied with stealing Steve’s crown that he didn’t have time to think about getting laid.

No doubt when he came back down to earth; _I’d_ be the first person he’d have in mind to help with _that little problem._

But for now; my night looked relatively sleaze free. No one had tried to hit on me since Billy had taken an interest; _probably valued their molars too much for that._

It’s strange to think that despite my total disdain for Billy and the **clear** message that I’d rather eat my own fingernails than date him; people still acted like he had some sort of “ _reservation_ ” over me, as if I was unofficially “ _his girl_ ”.

Right now, the man in question was challenging the royal reign of keg king; a position previously held by Steve, before Nancy had him saddled and bridled.

Even I had to admit; Billy Hargrove made _quite_ the Lancelot to Steve’s Arthur. Billy had Steve in term of upper body strength; his keg stand lasting twice as long as Steve’s had, without any of the signature unsteadiness.

The keg court already loved him, counting down with unrivalled enthusiasm and chanting Billy’s name as if he’d just won a championship belt.

He’d even managed to steal Steve’s right hand man; Tommy H naturally taking his place behind the new alpha male, reminding me of a snappy hyena at his heels.

Billy’s keg stand finished on a impressive count of forty two; him touching ground soon after and spraying the crowd with lukewarm beer.

“ ** _That’s how you do it; Hawkins! That’s how you do it!”_** He yelled triumphantly, in that moment seeming more of a celebrity than the cocky asshole with a Camaro.

Even I had to admit that Billy seemed different tonight.

Maybe it was the punch talking, or the overall excitement of the crowd as they practically worshipped him like a god, but he just seemed larger than life.

He’d styled his hair different; his curls actually holding shape, rather than just falling into a dirty blonde mess. He also followed the crowd in terms of forgoing a shirt; just a leather jacket draped over his impressively built torso.

I could see why the other girls went crazy over him. Everything about him screamed dominance and _raw testosterone._

Now Billy was walking my direction and I was running low on punch and confidence.

_Yes; originally I’d planned to play the role of tease tonight, and drive Billy crazy with what he could see, but couldn’t touch. But he was forty two seconds of beer down and pumped up on the adoration of half the school, so I was having second thought_ s.

_Sober Billy_ _was fun to tease, if not a little over persistent;_ _drunk Billy_ _was an unfamiliar entity that could turn out to be downright dangerous._

So I made my exit, slipping back into the crowd and relative anonymity.

—————————————

The kitchen looked like it had become the first fatality of what was sure to be a deadly night of binge drinking and bad decisions.

The tile floor now closely resembled a a swimming pool, complete with indeterminate objects that I had **no** intention of inspecting swimming on the surface.

The kitchen counters looked like the world’s largest game of beer pong, cups of various colours and fullness on every available inch of clear space. I didn’t even want to _know_ what was in some of them; the smell of them strong enough to hit you from across the room.

I’d managed to find Steve and Nancy again earlier, though it was clear Nancy was well in her cups, and Steve was trying desperately to stop her from becoming any deeper.

I’d managed to convince her into trying something that didn’t have enough of an alcohol content to sedate a horse, but it seemed Tina had stockpiled just as many mixers as booze; though the former seemed vastly less popular.

I made my way back through the thick of the crowd, wanting to make sure I got Nancy something that’d actually stay down, rather than end up painted across the front of her sweater. I could already see the top of Steve’s hair, rising high above the crowd like a homing beacon; _at least it wasn’t_ _completely_ _useless._

“ _Hey Nance; do you want soda or_...” I began, threading through the crowd towards them, when I suddenly realised they weren’t alone.

I felt like I’d walked on set in the middle of one of those Wild West movies my dad liked to watch;the sheriff facing off against the stranger in black.

Billy stood nearly chest to chest with Steve, looking as if he was moments away from flooring him, but at the sound of my voice his focus shifted; his demeanour no less predatory.

“ _Lola_...” He purred, with a smirk that made me feel like he was undressing me with words alone. Up close I could see the evidence of his keg stand running down his tanned chest; slick trails threading between his taught abs.

Still; I kept stony, not trusting Billy in the slightest.

“ _Hargrove_.” I spat; arms crossed over my chest in a way hoped said back off, but may have came across as nervous.

His smirk spread across his face; eyes falling to trail over my body, stopping at all the strategic points along the way.

” _Like the costume...”_ He commented, wetting his lips as if I was desert on a platter. “ _Just like I imagined._ ”

I could already figure out exactly what he’d imagined, and I’m pretty sure it didn’t include clothes.

“ _Thanks_.” I forced a smile faker than Tina’s attitude; dry and bitter just like half the booze on offer at this shithole of a party.

Still; Steve wasn’t gonna just stand around whilst Billy stared at me as if I was something from his private Playboy collection; the usurped king was instead experiencing a serious case of white knight syndrome.

“ _Hey; why don’t you back the hell off.._.” Steve warned, stepping forwards between me and Billy, so Billy could no longer blatantly leer at me.

It didn’t put his successor off in the slightest; Billy stepping past Steve as if he was an inanimate object to continue to proposition me.

“ _Why don’t you come and have a dance with me?”_ He asked with one of those smiles that made Tina turn into a shivering puddle of hormones.

“ _I’ll pass._ ” I replied with another dry smile, then turned to make a swift exit before he could come up with another bullshit reason to waste my time and my patience.

“ _Come on; sweetheart._..” He purred, and I felt his hand lock around my wrist; not painfully so, but just firm enough to tell me that I’d leave when he let me, and not a moment sooner.

I gave him a dark look, because _really_ _? He was gonna try this with_ _me_ _?_

But before I could give him the verbal lashing of a lifetime; Steve beat me to it, ripping Billy’s hand from my wrist with more force than I thought was possible for the doe eyed brunette.

“ ** _Dude; she said_** ** _no_** ** _!_** ” Steve said, and despite his gentle chastisement; his face and tone told him that he wasn’t messing around.

But neither was Billy. He turned to Steve; his former aggression returning as quickly as it left.

“I’m sorry; I wasn’t aware you were her **boyfriend**...” Spat Billy; already ready to open an entire new can of worms and with it, let out a whole lot of alcohol infused testosterone.

Steve wasn’t gonna take it; _though sometimes I really wish he would_.

I really didn’t need saving; **I’m goddamn Lola Hopper.** Boys like Billy Hargrove should shit themselves when I approached.

But Steve; always the hero, came at him with all the verbal reasoning that Billy had no patience for.

“ _Just because she’s not my girlfriend; doesn’t mean I’m gonna let you drag her around like-_ “

But Billy truly didn’t have the patience or the mental capacity. He was half a keg in and looking for a fight.

Steve never got to finish his argument; Billy slamming him hard against the wall like some freshman, and not the previous reigning keg king.

“ _Excuse me_?” Billy growled; his voice low and threatening, and really doing more for me than his sleazy flirting, but I had more important things to worry about than how Billy’s temper was a turn on!

**_My best friend was about to become an interestingly shaped stain on Tina’s parents’ wallpaper._ **

“ _Who the fuck do you think you are, Harrington_?” Billy’s voice dropped another octave; his body inches away from Steve’s and although he didn’t touch him,

I knew he was seconds away from knocking the noble idiot unconscious.

Even then, Steve couldn’t take a hint. Always honourable; he was prepared to go down fighting, but I wasn’t ready to see him become a martyr.

“ _Billy; I’ve changed my mind..._ ” I quickly thought on my feet, slipping between the two of them in the vain hope that the possibility of physical contact on the table was enough to shake Billy out of his rage.

_“I think I want that dance..._ ” I forced a pretty smile, grabbing his wrist softly in the hope he might unclench his fists in favour of touching me again.

It wasn’t working. Billy was far too worked up; it was if I was invisible. So I moved a bit closer; letting my body brush up against his as I slipped my hand down to grab his.

“ _Come on; Billy. He’s not worth it.._.” I whispered; my voice just husky enough to hold a little promise.

“ _But I might be.._.” I gave him an impish smile; all _raw sexuality and desire,_ one that I’d of previously thrown up at the prospect of exchanging with Billy Hargrove.

To my great relief; he relaxed, his shoulders lowering and his jaw unclenching. His hand wrapped around my own, squeezing with just a little bit of pressure; a reluctant retreat on the condition that I upheld my end of the bargain.

I took him by the hand and pulled him away from Steve, heading towards the dance floor and hopefully putting as much distance between the two alphas as possible.

But even now; Steve wouldn’t relent, stepping forward ready to defend my honour.

“ _Lola; you don’t have to..._ ” He petitioned, as if I wasn’t doing this to protect him.

“ ** _It’s fine,_** ** _Steve._** ” I reassured him, making the words more forceful than necessary in case his dumb overprotective brain continued to reject self preservation.

But of course; my pushy prospective dance partner couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

“ _Yeah, Steve;_ ** _it’s fine._** _”_ He mimicked; his smirk so full of venom, I’m surprised it didn’t melt his pretty face off.

At last, Steve relented, letting me lead my volatile pretty boy onto the dance floor without blood on his knuckles.

————————————

Surprisingly; Billy was actually a semi decent dance partner. He kept rhythm well enough and gave me enough room that I didn’t feel he was trying to hump me in front of the whole school.

We were two songs down; “Dancing With Myself” pumping through the overdriven sound system, and I hadn’t once _accidentally-on-purpose_ tried to step on Billy’s toes.

If I was to be _painfully_ honest, and _believe me; admitting this_ ** _was_** _painful_ , I was actually enjoying dancing with Billy.

When he wasn’t so heavily focused on appearing the bad boy, he was _actually_ pretty cool. He smiled more often; a genuine warm smile that was nothing like that sleazy grin he used on me all the time. He was _actually cute._

“ _Are you feeling alright_?” He asked after spinning me under his arm for the third time tonight; and I’m not sure if it was the dizziness or the alcohol, but I was actually beginning to feel giddy.

“ _Yeah; why?”_ I replied with a smile; my gaze getting lost in those bright baby blues that were staring at me with something other than lust.

“ _It’s just; it’s been half an hour and you haven’t threatened to shiv me with a beer bottle..._ ” He joked; _yeah,_ ** _actually joked,_** with a wide smile on his face.

_And God!_ His face just lit up when he was being genuinely funny and not an ass; and for a split second I was hit with the almost uncontrollable urge to kiss him.

_Almost_ _uncontrollabl_ e. I reigned it in at the last minute; not trusting my tipsy brain to have that much control, at least not when it came to Billy Hargrove.

I bit my lip instead; feeling an _honest to God blush_ spread across my cheeks.

“ _Shut up once in a while and it might happen more often..._ ” I retorted, lowering my voice just enough that he could tell his joke hit right.

He just smiled, and my pulse just skipped another beat as he swept me into another spin; happy just to keep his body close to mine for the remainder of the night.


	9. Chapter Nine - Reach Out And Touch Faith

I couldn’t honestly tell you how I found myself in this position, and if you’d told me that I’d _actually_ be _smiling_ whilst dancing mere centimetres away from _Billy Hargrove_ ; I’d probably of knocked you unconscious.

But here we were, swaying to the beat of “Girls On Film”; dumb smiles on both of our faces as drunk teens pressed closer in an attempt to get their own square inch of dance floor.

At some point in the past twenty minutes, Billy had managed to manoeuvre his way behind me so his hips brushed up against my own; one hand braced on my hip as we rocked to the music.

I didn’t even mind that his other hand was splayed across my bare stomach, tracing small patterns as he kept me close; almost as if he feared I’d float away into the crowd.

His lips hovered just above my ear, warm breath leaving a pleasant tickling sensation as he continued to whisper things to me that weren’t _all out_ dirty, but were suggestive enough that I could guess where his mind was at _._

_I didn’t even mind; to be honest_. His tone was still light; a soft playful smile on his face that challenged me to stop him if he went to far.

I just smiled and laughed, hoping the excuse of too much liquor would stand up well enough when Steve inevitably asked me _why_ I was giggling at Billy like a schoolgirl on Monday morning.

Duran Duran came and went; the dance floor growing considerably more packed as liquid confidence turned everyone into Saturday Night Fever extras.

I’d seen Steve’s ridiculously tall hair bouncing around somewhere in the crowd earlier that night, but now it was lost in a sea of backcombs and bad perms.

The song switched to Depeche Mode; the dark sinister nature of “Personal Jesus” giving high school kids the unneeded prompt to get down and dirty in front of a crowd of their peers.

Billy himself wasn’t immune to the suggestion, taking my previous cooperation as a cue that further adventurousness would be welcome on his part.

The steadying hand on my stomach was becoming an insistent pressure, pushing me till I nearly stumbled back into Billy; his body a hard wall of muscle directly behind me.

The gentle, playful swaying of his hips turned into all out grinding, and judging by the bulge at the bottom of my spine; his abs weren’t the only hard thing pressed against me.

His hands were also becoming more adventurous; the one on my stomach relenting on its pressure to make its way up under my top, ghosting over my ribcage and upwards, till I could feel his fingertips brushing over the edge of my bra, _teasing_ the fabric as if he was just waiting for a chance to venture beneath.

His other hand had sunk down to my inner thigh, tracing small patterns on the bare skin with an expert precision that told me he’d done this before.

Perhaps I should’ve pulled away right then and there, but it was hard to think straight with his lips on my neck, periodically shifting between sucking and kissing with _just the right amount of teeth._ I knew I’d find bruises there in the morning, but I honestly didn’t care.

_Billy may of been a sleaze, but he was a sleaze who knew how to turn me into putty in his hands with the lightest of touch._

I’d let my head fall back into the crook of his neck, trying my best to hold back what I dreaded would be moans, so I stifled them into breathy sighs instead; _as if that was anything bette_ r.

Billy responded to every single breath and whimper; the _fingers_ on my thighs moving _higher_ and higher, until I could feel them brushing against the lacy edge of my panties, and suddenly my heart stopped.

“ _Billy; stop_!” I whined, as I felt his fingers slip beneath the damp cotton, sliding through a wetness I was quickly becoming very conscious of.

Whether Billy heard me or not; I don’t think it mattered to him. He just moaned softly into my neck, teeth nibbling insistently on the skin there as his hand in my underwear increased it’s pressure, creating a growing friction that was equal parts _incredible_ and _mortifying_.

_Still; I wasn’t about to let Billy Hargrove perform any kind of sex act on me at Tina’s party,; let alone in the middle of the dance floor with half the school watching._

“ _Billy; stop!_ ” I said; my soft sigh changing into a clear warning, because I wasn’t about to involuntarily live out one of his bedroom fantasies; no matter _how_ much liquor he pumped into me.

I pulled myself away from him, his hands slipping out of my underwear and leaving every single one of my nerves on edge.

I stared at him, because I honestly couldn’t believe even _he’d_ try something like that in public, but then again; this was Billy Hargrove, and judging by the dirty smirk on his face; I could tell he wasn’t ashamed in the slightest.

I scoffed, because _he really was such a sleaze_ , then stormed out off the dance floor. I needed some air, and preferably a cool shower, because there was no way I could take another second of Billy Hargrove without something happening that I’d really live to regret.


	10. Chapter Ten - I Too Like To Live Dangerously

The cool tap water on my face wasn’t nearly cold enough, even as it ran down my neck in plump droplets, trailing beneath my top until I could feel them more than I had Billy’s fingers. 

**_Billy_** ; _getting too close to him was dangerous._ He was like liquor; I’d say just a little bit more, but then I wouldn’t know when to stop, and before I knew it I’d be waking up with a headache in the morning and a hazy memory of a night I’d regret.

The only safe thing to do was to avoid it all together; _to avoid_ ** _him_** _altogether._

But I liked to live dangerously; my motorcycle was proof of that. Treading the fine silk line between regret and rebellion; never slipping over into the unknown.

I was careful with my choice of danger; selective on where I got my kicks and how I got them.

Dancing with Billy was not careful, and now I was here standing in Tina’s upstairs bathroom; trying to calm my hammering pulse with cool water, when I was entirely too aware of a completely different wetness between my legs.

**I’d been an idiot.**

I’d let Billy take things too far; just for the sake of some good kisses and a few dirty promises I’d _never_ let him deliver upon.

I could’ve literally gotten the same with any other jock, and it would’ve cost me half the price; bragging rights that they’d kissed me, but not the handsyness I got with Billy.

But I didn’t want some random basketball player who came in their pants as soon as I looked at them; **I wanted danger!** _I wanted Billy._

I was suddenly made aware of a weight in my bra; a promise holding the same cold weight coming to the forefront of my mind.

I pulled out the weight, staring down at the forgotten penknife; my dad’s words swimming through my mind like an ominous warning.

“ _We are not stupid.”_

Something he repeated to Eleven on almost a daily basis. Something he’d adapted from his own warnings to me.

“ _Don’t be stupid, Lola_.”

“ _Don’t be stupid, Lola_.” He’d warn me at the age of six; climbing up the tallest tree I could find and almost loosing my footing with every branch.

“ _Don’t be stupid, Lola.”_ He’d lecture at fourteen when I’d threaten to run away, confident that Steve would take me in and keep me hidden under his mattress.

“ _Don’t be stupid, Lola.”_ He’d asked on my sixteenth birthday, when he’d rolled out my baby; my Triumph back when she was clean of dirt and adrenaline.

I could almost hear him now. “ _Don’t be stupid, Lola.”_ A staunch reminder of the wordless promise I made in the front of his grubby truck.

_I wouldn’t be stupid._ I could take care myself; he wouldn’t of given me his penknife if he didn’t believe that, wouldn’t have told me to do what was necessary.

_But was this really necessary_?

Billy was just mucking around; he didn’t mean it! He didn’t deserve to get stabbed or slashed; _did he_?

**_What the hell was I thinking_**? _I was turning into my dad;_ the same violent paranoia overtaking my mind, without the years of combat to back it up.

I was being stupid, but not in the way dad worried about.

I needed to get back downstairs to the party; _to Steve_ , where I could be away from my thoughts and just enjoy being a dumb teenager for just one night.

I unlocked the bathroom door, pushing it open and rushing out, ready to take those stairs three at a time if it got me back down to earth sooner.

Suddenly; I collided with something.

_Not a wall; far too warm for that_ , but something equally as solid.

My heart involuntarily jumped; my eyes quickly rising up to what I hoped was another drunk waiting for the bathroom. _I should be so lucky._

“Jesus; you almost gave me a heart attack!” I exclaimed as my eyes finally fell on the slightly flushed face of Billy Hargrove.

“ _Sorry_.” Billy half mumbled; though judging by how his eyes wandered over my body, I don’t think he was sorry at all.

“ _Just wanted to make sure I didn’t scare you off_.”

Now that one I could half believe.

_Wouldn’t want his chosen lay to run away before he had a chance to wet his cock._

“ _Well; I’m fine, so_ ” I reassured with a halfhearted smile, attempting to slide past him and continue downstairs.

_Any extended time alone with Billy Hargrove_ _was not_ _a good idea right now._

Unfortunately for me; Billy thought otherwise; sliding into my path with a smoothness that was alarming in a guy so drunk.

“ _You know; sweetheart. If you just wanted us to have some privacy, you should’ve just said earlier...”_ He purred, and I didn’t like the way his voice dropped on “ _sweetheart_ ”, nor how close he leaned in to whisper it; the scent of booze on his breath.

“ _Real cute, Billy.”_ I replied; my smile falling for a second as I considered what Billy was truly capable of.

He was drunk and much bigger than me. I had to get out of there, or at least make it clear that I was not an easy target.

“ _But I’m_ ** _not_** _interested.._.” I insisted; my voice becoming hard with emphasis, but I’m not sure he cared.

I went to step pass him, and he did the same thing again; his muscular body an immovable wall when he wanted to be.

“ ** _Billy;_** ** _move_** ** _!_** _”_ My voice cracked a little as it rose in pitch and urgency; my nervousness coming through.

_I needed to get out of here_ **_._ **

**_I needed to get out of here_ ** **_NOW_ ** **_._ **

I made another attempt to get past him, but even drunk, Billy was fast. He turned his body, slamming his hand against the wall right next to my head; his muscular arm becoming a steal bar with the purpose of caging me in.

“ _Billy;_ _I’m not_ _messing around..._ ” My voice dropped to a low growl, hopefully coming across as intimidating rather than scared.

He smiled at me. A dark terrifying thing that had too many teeth.

_He wasn’t intimidated_. _He wasn’t even cautious_.

He was amused at my sudden nerves; that Hawkins own Joan Jett could be cowed into submission by a little display of dominance and a few well placed touches.

And like the shark who smelt blood; Billy was on the hunt and looked ready to kill.

“ _I know you’re not..._ ” He whispered; his words sending a shiver down my spine for two entirely separate reasons. _Damn him for having this effect on me._

I was once again aware of my penknife, still hidden as I clutched it tightly in my palm. An out, if I needed it; but God, I hoped I didn’t! 

But still; Billy needed to know that I wasn’t like Tina, or Ally, or any of his other girls. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight, and it was a fight he wouldn’t walk away from unscathed.

“ _I’m warning you; Billy.”_ I growled; my voice low and threatening, it’s steadiness returning in the knowledge that I’d managed to even the terrain a little.

“ _I’m going to give you one last chance to_...” I never got to finish; the sudden sensation of something soft and warm and wet colliding with my mouth; stopping me mid sentence.

At first I’d thought he’d punched me; that I’d pushed my luck to far and that the slightly metallic taste on my lips was blood from a split mouth.

Then I realised it was beer I was tasting; that Billy hadn’t started a fight.

That he was kissing me; sloppily and without restraint, a wet clumsy thing that had managed to steal the breath from my lungs.

For a moment; my mind short circuited, all sense and reasoning thrown aside in the face of his mind numbing kiss.

_It wasn’t even that good_ ; his lips far too insistent on my own for it to be enjoyable, like he was afraid the moment he broke the kiss, I’d punch him.

_He was probably right_.

But his lips were soft and slightly chapped from too many cigarettes, and he didn’t even try to deepen it; happy to linger in a long peck that had all the passion of a full on make out session.

_And what was I thinking?!_ **_This was Billy Hargrove?!_ **

I acted on instinct after that. Not the soft, feminine instinct that was telling me to give in and surrender to the kiss; to let Billy dominate me in mind, body and soul and become yet another notch on his bedpost. The tough fight or flight instinct that told me I was in danger; that I had to escape soon before something happened that I’d regret.

My thumb flicked over the switch of the penknife; the blade springing forwards with cheetah-like speed, as I swung my arm up, unthinkingly going for the jugular as if I was a soldier at war, and not a teenage girl being kissed in a hallway.

I would’ve succeeded too _;_ left Billy choking and bleeding on the floor, if it hadn’t been for his reflexes.

His hand shot up, lightning quick, as if this wasn’t the first time someone tried to take him unguarded.

He grabbed my wrist, stopping mid strike and _squeezing_ with bone crushing force. I could feel my wrist bones grinding together uncomfortably, and I was suddenly aware that Billy could very well break them, and it would be no hassle on his part. It was a lot harder to defend yourself with a broken wrist.

I stared at him; his face a picture of dark promise, pupils blown dangerously wide in a combination of adrenaline, booze and lust.

My gaze fell to his neck, where apparently, he hadn’t been quick enough; a small gash across his jugular, no deeper than a paper cut.

His eyes fell to it, following a small crimson trail as it dribbled down his neck, settling on his sun kissed collarbones, as if daring me not to look lower.

“ ** _Cute..._** ” He smiled, but there was no warmth to it; _just cold, callous intent._

I felt regret pooling in my stomach; a deep set uncertainty that mixes uneasily with something darker, _something primal_ that I really didn’t want to consider right now.

Billy’s attention returned to the blade in my hand, still held suspended in his tight grip mere centimetres away from his skin.

Blood painted the blade; a thin strip of red that screamed ‘ **DANGER: DO NOT CROSS!** ’

Billy smirked at it, and I felt the urge to cross my legs, to close in on myself and disappear whilst he was distracted.

Then he did something that made my stomach clench.

He brought his lips to the edge of the blade, millimetres from meeting like the breath of a kiss. His tongue peaked out from his lips, pink and wet as it swiped up and along the blade, gathering up the blood as if it was wine.

My hand shook in his grip; shock breaking my facade as my nerves reared their head again.

His eyes shot up to meet mine, leaving me unable to look away; no matter how much I wanted to.

I swallowed down a whimper; saliva thick in my throat as I realised that I shouldn’t have been here, _that this was the_ ** _exact_** _kind of stupid my dad warned about._

Still; I found myself unable to move beneath Billy’s icy gaze and his overbearing presence. I was like a deer in headlights, completely vulnerable to the will of the driver; to the one in control.

Billy knew this; a smirk spreading across his face as he pulled away from the blade, red smeared across his lips like lipstick, a terrifying image that left rocks in my stomach.

His tongue made a reappearance, flicking out with snake-like dexterity as it ran over his bottom lip, tracing the blood in his signature tick that too often left my spine tingling.

His eyes fell on my mouth; intent clear in their darkened depths. He bit down on his lip; perfect teeth running over fresh blood in a way that could only be described as pornagraphic.

_Then, that was it_.

He leaned in again; all restraint abandoned behind the fact that he knew he had me exactly where he wanted me, that there was no way I could fight back now even if I wanted to.

He slammed me back against the wall, lips leading the charge as he kissed me in a way that felt more like conflict than passion; like he had something to prove. 

I gasped into it. _I couldn’t help it, really;_ the sheer force of his mouth upon mine something I hadn’t even imagined in my darkest fantasies, when the lights were out and there was nothing except me and the sheets.

My hand hit the wall; still trapped in Billy’s grip as he used all his leverage for control, but still I clung to the blade; useless as it was, but every port in a storm.

Billy took advantage of my shock; his tongue darting into my open mouth with no intention of leaving.

I could taste him now; the heady bitterness of beer mixing with the tang of his own blood, an unappealing coupling that left me feeling sick in my stomach, though that could well of been anxiety.

Billy wasn’t a generous kisser; _he was a thief,_ taking what he wanted in dark corners and leaving you disheveled and robbed. His need for dominance seeped through into every flex of his muscles, every flick of the tongue.

His kisses were biting; hard, full of a teeth and frustration. That suited me fine; whatever he felt in anger, I could more than match in bitterness.

And what a match we made; fire and fury made flesh as we fought for dominance in a dance that neither partner had any intention of bowing to the other.

I was actually kissing him back now; tongue fighting for dominance as I made it _damn clear_ I wasn’t one to roll over and think of America.

I promised him a fight, _and boy; was he gonna get one,_ teeth biting back on his lips as we competed on who would draw first blood.

I could taste the cigarettes on his teeth now; faint but distinctive, a warm familiarity in a situation that was altogether pretty new to me.

I’d been kissed before; I wasn’t _that_ untouched!

Steve beneath the bleachers in eighth grade; nervous giggling as we tried not to get caught by Coach Johnson just metres away.

_No feelings back then; not really,_ just innocent experimentation between two friends on the cusp of puberty, learning to deal with strange urges that left them warm and frustrated.

Drunk kisses with boys who’s names I couldn’t even remember; a meaningless game of truth or dare or spin the bottle, seven minutes in heaven that felt like seconds; boys too nervous to lay their hands on me, but just as eager to say they did to their friends the next day.

Just stupid teenage stuff without consequence or thought.

Kissing Billy was different; like playing Russian roulette when every chamber was loaded, _you’re guaranteed to lose every time_.

But the thrill; the thrill was something else, something I couldn’t even touch upon at a hundred miles an hour on my Triumph.

The thrill of doing something so inherently wrong; something every fibre of my being protested against, was an adrenaline rush I felt I would never come down from.

I wanted this kiss; _I needed it,_ _craved it more than air itself._

Billy was opening up a Pandora’s box of desires that would make my skin crawl mere moments before.

Billy’s other hand; the one not intent on playing handcuff to my wrist, was squeezing hard on my waist, fingers gripping so tight that I’d have bruises for weeks.

His nails scraped the skin there; no delicacy in his handling, but that was okay; I could take it.

He was pressed hard against me, sandwiching me between him and the wall in a way that felt like he was trying to meld us together without sex, _but if anyone could, it would be Billy_.

I could feel his thigh working to separate my legs, rough denim scratching against bare skin as he created a delicious friction, his knee rising till it met the apex of my thighs.

I shouldn’t be like this, practically riding on top of his muscular thigh, body screaming for more contact, as if it’d burst without Billy there.

I should be angry; disgusted even, but instead I was giving in to him, like this entire game was just me playing hard to get and he just needed to wait it out until I warmed up to him.

And warm I was; my skin felt like it was on fire, tingling wherever Billy chose to touch. I didn’t even know how he chose to keep his jacket on, sweat dripping down his bare chest in rivulets my mind was telling me to lap up.

_When had I become so depraved?_

Somewhere between him slapping his hand against my asscheek, and me practically humping him on the dance floor; _that’s when_.

I didn’t trust my own instincts; hormones clogging my mind too fully for me to allow my body to do what it so badly wanted.

So instead, I just latched onto Billy’s leather jacket, nails biting down on the soft leather as I clawed at his collar, pulling him closer than I thought was humanly possible.

Billy’s spare hand fell to my thigh, tracing invisible confessions in a way that was becoming far too familiar for my own good.

I let him; too focused on how his thigh was making me weak at the knees, a steady growing pressure in my lower stomach a subtle warning that I should stop this all soon.

I was starting to make noises; soft high pitched little mewls that I thought were reserved for X rated movies, but Billy was pulling them from me like teeth; painful and unwanted, but inescapable nevertheless.

Billy was vocal too, but no pretty moans or sighs would fall from his lips; just grunts, heavy and rough, just like him.

Billy’s hand was creeping higher in his quest to pull more sounds from me, reaching dangerous heights as he pulled at my panty’s lace, working to move it aside against the wetness that was desperately trying to keep it there.

I barely even noticed; my mind so wrapped up in his intoxicating kisses and his rough thigh that any additional touching was welcome.

His touch was featherlight at first, a gentle careful swipe as if he was testing my reaction; calloused fingertips meeting a velvety softness that was coated in arousal.

Then he came back again, more insistent this time; slender fingers parting wetness and flesh as he pulled another moan from me, half hidden beneath an obscene squelching that only made me wet myself further.

His fingers found their target, honing in on a small lump of nerves hidden just above my opening as he began to trace the same patterns there as he did on my thighs.

I let out a gasp, because no hand but my own had touched me there before; no one had the nerve.

Billy was talented; experienced fingers combining the perfect amount of speed and pressure to gradually make my world fall apart at the seams.

I really didn’t want him to stop; despite the voices in my head telling me this was a very bad idea, that I’d regret this in the morning. It didn’t matter; not with the way he was making me feel right now, electricity running straight from my core to the heart of my stomach, threatening to explode at a moments notice.

Billy was savouring every last cry and mewl; mouth swallowing them whole as if they were the sweetest whispers, devouring them in heated kisses.

His hand dipped lower, following the seem of where my body opened, probing with an insistent curiosity.

I knew where this was heading; dexterous fingers starting to slide in through wetness and slight resistance.

“ _Billy; stop_!” I said, pulling my lips away from him and breaking our kiss; a strange urgency rising my voice.

He actually listened, pausing his hand mid-crusade, but not withdrawing it. His eyes met mine; curious, but impatient.

He wanted to know what made me so frightened.

I stared back; the sea blue eyes making me feel sick again as I realised I was going to have to tell the truth, that there was no way he’d listen to me otherwise.

I took a deep breath, steadying my racing heart as I braced myself to make an uneasy confession to who I’d previously seen as my worse enemy.

“ _Billy; you can’t..._ ” I began, words uncharacteristically failing me for once.

_This was harder than I thought it would be_.

“ _Billy; I haven’t._..” I stuttered, tears brimming in my eyes as my vulnerability suddenly fell down on me; a reminder that I wasn’t all I pretended to be.

**_I mean; how was this supposed to be easy? What am I meant to say?_ **

Just come out and say; “ _Oh; Sorry Billy, the reason I’m so scared of you sticking your hands down my pants is that I’m a virgin, and has nothing to do with the fact your the scariest womaniser I’ve ever met_.”

_Yeah; I’m sure that would really make him take it easy on me._

I was beginning to regret my half confession already; all too aware on what it made me look like, how I must now seem to Billy, but he continued to surprise me.

He moved his head forward again, and for a moment I thought he was gonna start kissing me again, but he didn’t.

He just pressed his forehead to my own; a strangely intimate gesture from a man who was so intent on ruining me moments before. His eyes gazed into mine; soft and warm, _even reassuring_ in this light.

“ _Relax_...” He said; his voice barely above a whisper as it ghosted over my lips, leaving the taste of his kisses there.

“ _I’ll stop if you ask me to_.” He promised, and for once I believed him; the strange sincerity in his eyes all I needed to guarantee his honesty. 

He gave me a kiss on my lips; a light clean one that spoke of love and devotion, something I was pretty sure had nothing to do with our current situation.

He pulled back, before moving to pepper more kisses along my jaw, gradually climbing till he reached my ear.

“ _And you won’t want me to stop._ ” He whispered directly in my ear; a dark dirty promise that made me let out a little mewl that turned into an all out moan as his fingers finally breached me.

I’ll be honest; it was uncomfortable at first, the insistent pressure as he slowly worked his fingers into me making me want to pull away.

He was only using two fingers, but already it felt like he was filling me to the brim, even with all my arousal aiding him as he gradually slipped them in.

I was thankful he was actually showing a little patience; the slight burn in my core the limit of the pain he inflicted.

It felt like forever before they were all the way in; his long slender fingers reaching places I didn’t even know I had.

I let out a shaky cry, feeling too full to be comfortable as already my body tried to clench down on him.

“ _That’s it, sweetheart. Relax for me. Let me take care of you._ ” He whispered; still holding that same dark gravelly undertone in his voice, despite the sweetness of his words.

His fingers were starting to move now; no more than a few millimetres, but already it felt like heaven, like he was touching every nerve inside of me and making them warm.

I arched my back into his touch, far too fixated on the feeling of his fingers buried deep inside of me to notice that my moans were getting louder.

“ _Billy_...” I cried; somewhere between a gasp and a moan as I closed my eyes and gave into pure physical pleasure.

“ _Just relax; sweetheart. You’re doing great.”_ He coaxed me onwards; his lips latching on to my neck to leave bruising kisses and playful bites that were sure to still be there tomorrow.

He wanted to mark me up; show everyone in Hawkins that the resident tease had finally dropped her panties for someone, and that someone was named _Billy Hargrove_.

Billy’s fingers had begun to move faster, thrusting in and out of me with an insistent rhythm, going at a speed that left my brain frazzled of all rational thought.

He stroked deep too; pulling his fingers almost out of me entirely, before ramming them back in with enough force that it made me jump a little every time.

I knew I’d be sore once it was all over; might even be a bit bruised, but _Jesus_ ; if this was what it was like to be fingered by Billy, sex must’ve been _absolutely brutal._ I don’t know how anyone could take him for even a single round.

I’d almost forgotten the knife in my hand; all ideas of self defence abandoned the moment his fingers found their way into me.

My fingers were becoming loose around the handle, slick sweat making it slippery between my fingers.

Billy’s grip had loosened too; his mind elsewhere as he laid climb to every inch of skin on my neck and collarbones, sucking and biting like a blood starved vampire.

I was beginning to get used to Billy’s rhythm now; my short, sharp gasps almost automatic to every stroke, the tightness in my core gradually building in a steady crescendo.

Then Billy changed tactics and I swore I saw stars.

“ ** _Billy_**!” I cried; his name falling from my lips like a prayer as I reached a whole new plain of arousal.

My fingers went slack around the knife, leaving it to fall to the floor as I finally gave myself over to him completely.

His fingers were curling into me, making small little beckoning motions that hit a spot in me that turned the heat in my gut up to eleven.

“ ** _Billy; oh God! Please!_** ” I begged, but I don’t know what for, only that I wanted him to be the one to give it to me.

My hand left his jacket to reach up and curl into his hair, clutching the soft stands as if they were all that was grounding me to this earth.

He just chuckled into the crook of my neck; a deep, dark sound that went straight to my core and left me dripping onto his hand.

“ _Billy; don’t stop._ _Please_ _don’t stop_!” I begged, having lost all my pride whilst riding on his fingers.

He’d finally let go of my wrist, fingers reaching up to intertwine with my own; proving that Billy really wasn’t incapable of intimacy, that he could actually be sensitive when provoked.

I clinged to his hand like it was my last tether on earth, squeezing hard until I was pretty sure I must of been hurting him. If it bothered him; he didn’t say, still intent on coaxing the most depraved of sounds out of me.

I could hear a wet squelching from between my thighs, feel the slight suction as my body tried to pull more of him in; all whilst fluid dropped from me like a leaky tap.

I was getting close now; Billy’s fingers applying more pressure to that spongy spot that made my body scream for his cock.

I couldn’t catch my breath, only managing small little pants in between moans. My heart was going twenty to the dozen; my limbs absolutely tingling with unspent tension as they waited for my release.

“ ** _Billy; oh God. Billy!”_** I cried; my tension finally reaching its peak, that coil in my stomach wound as tight as it would go.

My face was wet; a combination of sweat and tears that I was sure would’ve washed half my makeup away. I could feel that pressure in my stomach; that same feeling you felt when you were on a roller coaster at the fair, just about to tip over the edge to that deep descent.

Billy had stopped his kisses at this point; his lips once again hovering by my ear as he gave me one final command.

“ _Come for me_.” He said, and then I was lost.

That coil exploded in my stomach like a hand grenade; all the tension my body had been storing released in a blur of fireworks and silky wet cum.

I could feel it dripping down my thighs, soaking both my panties and Billy’s wrist in a flood of semisweet stickiness.

My inner muscles clenched, trying to draw Billy’s hand further into me in a series of continuous spasms that seemed to go on for hours.

I was visibly panting now; my chest rising and falling as I struggled to come down from the best orgasm of my life.

Sweat painted my skin, soaking through my clothes and melding my skin to Billy’s in the most erotic display of perspiration ever seen by man.

My body was shaking; my legs gone numb to the point that I was pretty sure if Billy wasn’t standing there, I wouldn’t have been able to stay upright. My mind couldn’t seem to clear the post orgasmic haze that overtook me the moment I fell over the edge.

But Billy was patient, keeping his fingers stilled inside me as he watched and waited for me to recover. It was uncharacteristically sweet of him; so much so, that when he leaned in to kiss me again, I nearly flinched.

He didn’t notice; engulfing me in a clean, passionate kiss that seemed more intimate than the fingers burrowed inside me.

He pulled away from me slowly, catching my bottom lip between his teeth and pulling away till it snapped back with a satisfying _pop_.

I opened my eyes then, staring into the face of the man who I’d previously been so venomous to; who I now knew would be able to make stomach clench just with a single word.

He was smirking again; that dangerous dark smile that offered heaven and hell at the same time.

Suddenly; his fingers started moving again, slowly pulling out of me in a single smooth motion. My body mourned the loss of him there; muscles clenching down as if they could trap him there, not ready to be empty yet.

His fingers left me with a _wet pop;_ the evidence of my orgasm swiftly following as it coated the insides of my legs, and I automatically felt completely empty, like something was missing from me.

Billy’s hand was gone much quicker than it had arrived, slipping out from under my skirt, leaving sticky strings still trying to connect us together.

When he lifted his hand up, his fingers absolutely _glistened_ ; slimy and wet down to his thick wrist. It made me embarrassed, knowing I’d been the one to create that mess; that those fingers had been inside me moments before.

He brought them up to his face, separating them slightly so I could see the thick strands that stretched between them; unquestionable evidence that I’d very much enjoyed his efforts.

“ _Someone’s enjoyed themselves_.” He purred with a dark chuckle on the end, and I swore my knees could’ve buckled right then and there.

_What the hell had he done to me? It was like every bone in my body turned to jello_.

He brought his hand up to his pretty pink lips; my slick wetting his lips so they glistened ever so slightly, like he was wearing a very dirty lipgloss.

Then he opened his mouth, sucking in his fingers like they were an ice pop, and hadn’t just been knuckles deep in my body seconds ago.

The sounds he made as he sucked were obscene; something I knew I would remember every night when the temperature was cold, but my body was far too hot for comfort.

I bit my lip, holding in a far too desperate moan as I watched him revel in what I tasted like; the sight alone making my insides spasm with the remnants of my orgasm.

After what seemed like forever to my held breathe, he pulled his fingers away, dragging them across his already wet lips in an image that belonged in a pinup picture.

“ _You taste sweeter than I thought you would..._ ” He said with a smile; and I tried not to think about just how long he must’ve imagined this moment; how many nights he spent fisting his cock, imagining how my pussy would taste on his lips.

He leaned in again, giving me another one of his breath stealing kisses that left my head reeling.

I could taste myself on his tongue; a heady mix of salt and tang, and _what do you know?! He was right;_ _I did taste sweet._

“ ** _Yo Billy; you done up there, or are you planning on acting out an entire porno?_ ”**

The nerve grating voice of Tommy H echoed up from downstairs, rousing me from my state of absolute ecstasy for long enough for me to realise exactly what kind of situation I’d got myself into; of exactly where I was, and _who_ I was with.

Billy broke the kiss, turning his head from me to reply to his lackey like I was just another Tina.

“ ** _I’ll be down in a sec; just gotta finish up what I’m doing here.”_** He replied, and I swore I could’ve slapped him then and there.

_He was really gonna play the asshole again? After what we just did_?

I shouldn’t have been surprised, but words really failed me when it came to the audacity of Billy Hargrove.

As I stood there, staring in shock and post-orgasmic exhaustion, Billy shot me a wink; the same sleazy wink he’d used on me and hundreds of other girls before.

“ _Thanks for being such a good girl; sweetheart. Let’s do it again sometime_.” He purred; all his former alpha sleaze restored as he stepped back, popping the collar of his leather jacket before heading back downstairs to the party.

I just remained frozen, leaning heavily against the wall as my legs tried to remember how to function, and my brain tried to wrap itself around what just happened.

Billy Hargrove had sleazeballed his way into my pants, then left me standing there, shaking and panting like a wet dog whilst he went downstairs to brag to his friends. I couldn’t believe the nerve of him.

_He was such an ass._

I wanted to slap him; **no, I wanted to strangle him**.

I wanted to hit his pretty blonde head against a brick wall until I could see blood.

_I wanted to cry._

I couldn’t believe I’d been so stupid!

I’d let him play me like a violin whilst he was laughing the entire time. I’d practically begged him to fuck me; all whilst he grinned about, because he knew the moment he went back downstairs, the whole school would know about it.

**_Oh Jesus!_ ** _The whole school would know!_

They probably heard the entire thing! Me begging and pleading whilst Billy growled in my ear like some kind of greasy sleaze machine.

_How was I supposed to look anyone in the eye on Monday?_

_How was I supposed to look Steve in the eye after al the things I’d said to him about Billy_? 

After all the crap I’d Spieled about him being an absolute slut and how all the girls were dumb to swoon over him. I was no better than those dumb girls now; in fact, I was worse.

I was a hypocrite; a touch starved uptight virgin who was bitter because she needed her cherry popped by some big blonde bad boy.

_Jesus; Steve was gonna hate me._

I felt my legs give way; my body sliding down the wall till I was sitting on the floor, head in hands as I berated myself for being a first class idiot.

I could hear the party downstairs; the victorious cheers of Billy and his friends as they celebrated his conquest like I was just another trophy to add to his shelf of school age sluts and rebellious daddy’s girls.

I don’t know when I started crying, but I could feel tears trickling down my cheeks, pooling into my palms as I tried my best to keep my sobs quieter than the music.

_It wasn’t supposed to go like this!_

I was supposed to go to the party , drink a little, party a little with Steve and Nancy and Jonathan; all whilst I drove Billy crazier than a dog chasing cars.

I wasn’t supposed to be here, panties falling down my legs, thighs sticky from sweat and simulated sex as I sobbed in a dark hallway, wishing I was anywhere but here.

_I just wanted to forget_ ; to open my eyes and wake up and realise this was all some late night dirty dream that I’d feel embarrassed about the next morning.

But it wasn’t a dream; this was real life and I’d been unbelievably stupid.

_I just wanted to forget._


	11. Chapter Eleven - Who's Gonna Drive You Home?

It must’ve been at least twenty minutes until I pulled myself back together and managed to lift my head up from its perch in my hands. 

I’d stopped crying after the first five minutes; my tears having dried into crusty mascara stains that streaked my cheeks like corpse paint. My breathing had levelled out; my pulse returning to normal after having done the equivalent of running a half marathon.

Downstairs, the sounds of Depeche Mode had long been forgotten, switched up to the much more mellow “Drive” by The Cars; a clear sign that the party was winding down and that the hostess was slowly trying to clear everyone out.

I slowly began to try and get back on my feet; my legs still slightly tingly, though I hoped that was from sitting in one position for so long, and not from Billy.

_Jesus; just the thought of his name made me feel sick_ ; my stomach clenching as I tried to suppress my more recent memories behind a steel wall of resentment.

I smoothed out my clothes, trying my best to look at least a little presentable, despite being dressed in the punk equivalent of a naughty school girl costume.

My fishnets were torn, but that really didn’t matter much; it would just seem intentional more than anything else.

What really bothered me was the dampness of my underwear, sticking to my still tacky thighs as I attempted to line them up enough to actually cover something.

They felt disgusting; an intimate reminder of exactly the effect Billy had on me, one that felt impossible to ignore as they rubbed against my still sensitive labia; another reminder from an experience I’d much sooner like to forget.

I made a couple of shaky steps towards the staircase, feeling very much like a newborn horse taking it’s first steps in the open, knowing that predators could descend upon them at any second.

The first step downstairs was hard; my shaking hands clinging to the banister in fear of my legs just giving up and me tumbling the rest of the way down.

_That was just what I needed; to be a spectacle once again for the wasted population of Hawkins High._

Each step afterwards was easier; my legs remembering how to work and my hand loosening it’s grip.

**I could do this.**

I could get downstairs and walk out of this party with my head held high.

I hadn’t done anything wrong; at least nothing that most of the people in this room hadn’t tried before.

I’d been fingered by Billy Hargrove; _so what?!_

Half the girls at this party would be dying to be in my position and the other half already have. I had nothing to be ashamed of; nothing at all.

_Or at least that’s what I told myself_ as I skipped the final step and walked through the middle of Tina’s party.

It was easier that way, but of course; _you can only fool yourself about something for so long._

When people’s eyes started following me, tracking me from half way across the room with knowing smiles on their faces and laughter on their lips; that’s when the wall crumbled.

People would actually stop in their tracks to turn and look at me, and for once; I was glad the music was too deafeningly loud to hear their comments.

I just wanted to find Steve and go home, but his bouncing brunette head was nowhere to be seen, and I wasn’t about to search the whole of the party for him and risk running into Billy again.

Instead I made a beeline straight for the front door, planning to make a clean getaway without drawing attention to myself.

I’d made it to the door, pulling it open, when almost instinctively I turned and looked back at the party.

I saw a flash of blonde curls above the crowd, and already knew who my eyes had been drawn to. Billy was standing with Tommy H and the rest of his cronies, laughing and joking together about one of his dirty exploits; probably the one with me upstairs.

It made me wanna be sick; imagining him going into great detail on what I’d been like; what I’d said to him, _what I’d tasted like_.

It felt like a complete invasion of privacy; like one of those dreams when you go to school naked.

But this wasn’t a dream and what Billy would tell them; although probably greatly exaggerated, would be real. I didn’t want any of them to know that.

I fought the urge to start crying again, really not wanting anyone in this _fucking shithole_ to have the pleasure of seeing me like that.

They’d made enough of a freak show out of me for one Halloween.

It was Halloween; and I’d been well and truly tricked, but I wasn’t gonna cry about it, not here and not now. 

Then Billy turned his head; his bright baby blues finding mine from across the room. I held my breath, suddenly terrified that he might call me over; that he might wanna play daddy in front of his friends.

_Well; I wasn’t gonna have that_.

I wasn’t gonna play anything with Billy again.

But he didn’t call me over; didn’t even speak to me, just shot me a dirty wink and wet his lips as if I was his dirty little secret.

It was like he didn’t even see the tear stains; probably didn’t even care; he was so fucked up on testosterone and hero worship that it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d came down openly sobbing.

Billy didn’t care.

He’d got his kicks from me, then moved on.

He was a manwhore, and I was stupid for trusting him.

I left the party after that, slipping into the night like a ghost as I crossed Tina’s front yard.

I didn’t look at the half dressed couple necking in her parents’ rose bushes; neither did I stop to help the paralytic guy in a toga, passed out in a pool of his own puke on the grass.

_They could all go to hell for all I cared._

I was struggling to hold myself together any longer; stray tears escaping down my cheeks which I hurried to wipe away.

**I would not cry**.

Yeah; I’d been a fucking idiot, but I was not gonna continue to act like one. I just had to get to Steve’s car in one piece.

I rushed over to the BMW, spying a familiar silhouette in the driver’s seat, illuminated by the flicker of a single cigarette.

I opened the door and climbed inside, not even trying to start a conversation. I couldn’t talk to Steve right now. I’d end up telling him everything and he’d be inside to get his ass kicked by Billy sooner than I could say idiot.

Instead; I strapped myself in in silence, gritting my teeth against all emotion.

“ _Lola; are you_...” Steve began; always ready to ask questions he didn’t wanna know the answers to.

“ _Steve; take me home.”_ I interrupted; my tone making it clear that _no; I was not okay, and no; I didn’t want to talk about_.

Thank God Steve was not in an argumentative mood, silently throwing his cigarette butt out of the rolled down window and starting the car.

————————————————

The dark green of the woods swept past my window; an unnerving sight to most, especially on Halloween, but reassuring to me. I’d be home in less than twenty minutes and one step closer to my bed and pretending this was all a dream.

Nicotine was a secondary relief; Steve, for once, choosing not to berate me for smoking in his car.

So instead I stared silently out the passenger window, sucking on my cigarette and trying to figure out where my night went so terribly wrong.

Steve had remained silent, giving me my space, but I could feel his eyes on me.

He was worrying about me.

It was understandable.

He was my closest friend and we’d barely spoken a word for the entire drive; something unheard of from the notoriously motor mouthed King Steve.

He hadn’t even bothered putting on the radio; something else that was completely uncharacteristic of him. I was so used to the sound of Queen being linked to the BMW; the absence of it was almost unsettling.

Maybe Steve wasn’t having such a good night himself.

_“Lo; did something happen?”_ Steve asked; breaking the silence as he read my body language like a book.

_“I don’t want to talk about it.”_ I replied; not taking my eyes off the woods, knowing that his face would resemble a kicked puppy and would break me completely.

He did look especially miserable tonight; no bad jokes to lighten the moon, no goofball flirting with Nancy.

**_Nancy_**.

“ _Steve; where’s Nancy?_ ” I asked between a puff of my cigarette; noticing her absence and linking it to the withdrawn nature of my friend.

_“I don’t want to talk about it._ ” Steve echoed my words, sealing the unspoken deal that we’d keep silence as our mistress.

I returned my full attention to my smoke and tried to count the shadowy forms of trees, rather than let my mind wander back to Billy Hargrove.

_And shit; I was already there_.

I could see that stupid smirk; the way he winked at me, him and his friends laughing from across the room.

_Fuck; I’d been so stupid._

I’d promised myself I wouldn’t cry again, but it was too fucking hard.

I was dumb and weak and stupid; _and I’d let him take advantage of me!_

Tears were spilling down my cheeks against my will, tiny breathless sobs raking through my teeth like choking. I felt like I was drowning in them.

“ _Shit; Lo. Are you okay_?” Asked Steve; worry ripe in his voice as he pulled over to the side of the road.

_I really didn’t want to talk to him right now._

_I really didn’t want him to know what had happened._

I don’t think I could take seeing his disappointment.

“ _Steve; I’m fine._..” I lied between sobs, knowing very well I wasn’t fooling anyone whilst I tears soaked my face.

_“Lo; you know you can tell me anything. Please; just talk to me..._ ” He begged, and honestly; Steve was too good a friend for me. Far too caring and nice.

Still; I dared a look at his face, taking in the deep concern in those warm brown eyes and shattering instantly.

“ _Steve; I’ve been such an idiot.”_ I sobbed, letting my tears flow freely as I threw my body towards his chest, needing the comfort of someone who actually meant something to me; _who actually cared_.

He wrapped his arms around me, enveloping me in a cocoon of warmth and security I never wanted to escape from.

“ _Lo; tell me what happened..._ ” He asked as I sobbed into his shoulder, arms flung around his neck like he was a rock in a storm.

I shook my head; unable to voice my shame to him. He was to good for that.

“ _I’m so stupid..._ ” I confessed; my fingers digging into the soft wool of his jacket.

“ _No; you’re not. You could never be stupid._ ” He insisted, petting the back of my head like a child. I didn’t mind. It was soothing coming from Steve.

“ ** _I am._** _I’m an idiot.”_ I lamented; my tears now soaking through his clothes.

I must’ve made such an ugly sight, but Steve didn’t care. He never cared about how I looked; only who I was.

“ _No; you’re not._ ” He repeated, kissing the top of my head with the kind of innocent affection that I found in no one else.

He cradled me to his chest, listening to me cry and sob, but never once asking me to explain myself.

He’d stay there all night if he had to, because that was just the kind of guy Steve had become.

_Selfless, kind, caring_.

**I loved Steve.**

I loved him with all my heart. His stupid goofy jokes and his dumb poofy hair. I loved him and I knew I’d never find another friend like him again.

He was the one person I could go to in any situation.

He never judged me.

Sometimes it felt like that outside of my family; he was the only person who actually cared about me _._

**_I loved Steve,_** _and as he held me as I ugly cried into his $50 sweater; I’m pretty sure he loved me too._


	12. Chapter Twelve - Happy Fucking Halloween!

I never actually told Steve what happened that night. I don’t think I had to; the mascara stains on my cheeks and the bruises on my neck spoke volumes.

The fact that Billy was the cause didn’t require any mind games to work out; everyone knew we’d been alone together, even Steve, and it didn’t take much to bridge the gaps. 

Still; Steve never asked questions. I was thankful for that; didn’t need to know details, just knew his friend needed him right now and that was enough.

I hardly ever cried. I only think Steve had actually witnessed it once since we met; and that was when dad stopped taking his meds, the first anniversary of when Sara died and everything seemed to be falling apart around us.

He’d held me then; thirteen years old with death a foreign concept reserved for long forgotten grandparents and fish you won at the fair.

He didn’t know what to say to me back then; didn’t even understand why I was so upset.

So he just sat there with me behind the dumpsters in middle school, petting my hair and telling me that everything was gonna be alright; even though he was in no position to be making those sorts of promises.

I guess he did the same now; cradling me close to him like I was fragile like glass, lips braced on my hair to try and kiss away the worry and regret.

I knew Steve assumed the worse.

That what Billy had done to me hadn’t been reciprocated; that somehow his actions had been forced upon me.

The word ‘ _rape_ ’ swam around both our heads; the word tasting dirty in my mouth, not quite fitting what had happened between me and Billy.

_Was he pushy?_ **_Yes_ ** _._

_And did I regret what happened?_ **_Yes_ ** _._

But I’d enjoyed it. I’d begged for it at the time, and somehow that felt worse than if I hadn’t wanted it at all.

I felt dirty; like I was lying to my closest friend, luxuriating in his sympathy whilst the evidence of my sin still left my thighs tacky beneath my skirt.

Fifteen minutes later; Steve had dropped me home in near silence, worry still there on his face, but no where as near as prominent as before.

“ _Are you sure you’re going to be alright?”_ He asked; taking note of the absence of my dad’s truck.

“ _I’m sure._ ” I responded; undoing my seatbelt and picking up my discarded leather jacket from the floor.

“ _Are you sure? Because you could always come back to mine tonight and drive home tomorrow.”_ He offered; no implication or undertone in his petition, just a warm desire to see me safe.

“ _I’ll be fine; Steve_.” I insisted with a half hearted smile, staring into those worry filled doe eyes.

“ _Okay_.” He relented with a sigh, running a hand through his thick hair as I began to climb out of the car.

“ _But if you need to talk or anything; just call me, alright?_ ” Steve continued to press, those deep brown eyes still staring at me as I shrugged my jacket on in a vain attempt to hide the purpling marks on my neck and chest.

“ _I know; Steve_.” I replied, leaning across the passenger seat to press a soft kiss to his cheek.

“ _Thank you_.” I said, and for once, I was sincere. Steve had been a sweetheart; no bones about it, and I was grateful for that.

I left him in the car then, slamming the door shut behind me before I made my way up the porch steps.

“ _Hey Lo...”_ Steve called after me, and I turned, watching him hang out a now open window to talk to me.

“ _Yeah_?” I asked, wondering what was going on beneath all that hair that left him so serious.

“ _Goodnight_...” He said, even though for a moment, I thought he might say something else entirely.

“ _Goodnight_ ” I smiled back, turning back to my door and pretended to be searching my pockets for my keys.

I waited till the I heard the hum of his engine spark up, then fade as he disappeared back into the woods; and once again, I was glad that Steve’s sense of chivalry only went so far, especially when he knew I’d take it as an insult if he offered to “ _walk me to the door_ ”.

Knowing that I was once again alone, I lifted my hand to the door and knocked.

**Knock knock.... knock knock knock.... knock**.

I waited, listening to the sounds of owls hooting and the wind blowing; a true signifier on just how isolated we were out here.

When I’d told Steve that me and dad were packing up and moving into the wilderness, he gave me a look like I’d just told him I was planning on running away and join the circus.

He thought my dad had lost it again; gone into a paranoid survival mode like you saw in movies, trying to lock away his family for ‘ _the end of the world’._

I had to reassure him that _no; dad hadn’t lost his shit again, and no; I didn’t need to come move in with him until my dad was done playing Bigfoot_.

I’d even had to break my dad’s favourite rule of secrecy, letting Steve drop me off and pick me up from the cabin, though my dad would never let him inside.

Steve just took it that my dad didn’t trust him with me; something that wasn’t all too surprising considering his chilly attitude towards Steve in the past.

Steve still had no idea of the real reason he couldn’t step inside my house.

“ _El; it’s Lola._ ” I called; noting that a couple of minutes had passed and she hadn’t come to answer the door. Probably pissed at my dad and planning to make him suffer for it.

I heard the click of locks opening, then the door swung open. I stepped inside, noting that despite the sound of TV murmuring, El was nowhere to be seen.

My eyes spied the long black cable of the TV set, following it as it trailed across the living room and up to Eleven’s closed door, disappearing beneath.

_The kid had balls; I’d give her that;_ the corners of my mouth almost rising into a smile when I’d realised that the Hopper pettiness was apparently also contagious.

_Almost_ ; then I was reminded of the stickiness in my underwear, my stomach tensing as I realised I needed to clean myself up urgently.

—————————————————

It didn’t seem to matter how scolding I made the water; how hard I scrubbed my skin, I just couldn’t get the feeling of Billy’s hands on me to go away.

I was probably gonna end up using up all the hot water at this point. Dad was gonna be pissed, but you know what; fuck him! If he hadn’t been so damn well insistent I went to that party, I might not be...

_No; you know what; I wasn’t gonna think about that._

Instead I focused on scrubbing the scent of beer and cigarettes out of my hair.

Only once I’d scrubbed my skin red raw; the strong scent of cherry blossom overtaking the stench of testosterone and cheap cologne, did I get out of the shower, wrapping myself in the least ratty looking towel I could find and heading back into my bedroom; ruined clothes in hand.

I locked my bedroom door, knowing that there was no chance of El leaving her room tonight and having no desire to speak to my dad anytime this week, then settled down to work out if anything was salvageable from my Halloween costume.

The stockings were goners; large rips spanning the length of my thighs down both legs, though that was no surprise. Those sort of things never lasted more than a couple of wears anyway.

My top was beer stained, though I could probably get that out with a little detergent and some elbow grease.

The skirt was passable, though my skin crawled slightly at the reminder on why I’d picked it.

_I’d probably not be wearing that one again in a hurry._

My bra was surprisingly fine, despite Billy’s rough handling, as were my heels.

My panties; _well that was another story._

Damp was an understatement; despite being left on the floor of the bathroom for the better part of an hour, the crotch was soaked through. I dared a look inside on the lining, and _instantly_ wished I hadn’t.

Stained; an almost milky looking streak running straight down the centre. I feared what a mess I might of found if Tommy hadn’t interrupted Billy; if he’d actually been allowed to continue.

I screwed them up into a ball, dumping them in the trash can alongside my ruined stockings in a bid to forget my shame.

I dumped the rest of my clothes into my laundry pile, planning to deal with them first thing tomorrow after dad left for work.

Then I pulled open my drawers, rifling through the jumble of cotton and denim for an oversized t shirt. I grabbed an old Jefferson Airplane t shirt that my dad gave to me years ago; a relic from him and ma’s freer thinking days back in New York.

I dropped my towel, fully intending to shove on the shirt then climb into bed and go to sleep; hopefully waking up tomorrow with enough of a stinker of a hangover that I’d have plausible deniability of the night’s events.

But then I stopped; I’d just caught sight of myself in the mirror.

**_Jesus fucking Christ_** _; I looked like a domestic abuse victim_!

The blooms of bruises decorated my skin like body paint, mapping the places Billy’s hands had strayed hours previously.

I thank God that it was dark in Steve’s car, otherwise he might’ve seen the messy pattern of hickeys running down the length of my neck, across my shoulders and collarbones, stopping just above the tops of my breast.

I even think I could make out the outlines of teeth marks mixed in amongst the bruises; _the fucking animal!_

It wasn’t just Billy’s mouth that had marked me up good; his hands had left purpling finger marks above my hips, the slightly raised red trails of scratches running just above in the curve of my back.

Most prominent of all was bruising on my wrist; already dark and angry, the distinct shape of his long fingers easy to make out on my darkening skin.

_He was an ass;_ **_a complete and total ass._**

He couldn’t even of done what he wanted and then left me to forget about it; he had to leave suiveneers, like this was some sort of milestone worth remembering.

I guess it kind of was; a hard learned life lesson to never trust a pretty smile and quick hands, no matter how much I wanted to.

**I’d been an idiot;** no matter what Steve said otherwise. I could accept that now, but I wouldn’t be one again; that’s for sure.

———————————— ——

I’d stayed strong for twenty more minutes, climbing into bed in my old t shirt and turning out the light, till only tree filtered moonlight lit my room.

I’d been fine for a whole twenty minutes; staring into the inky blackness till my eyes fell shut and sleep began to try and take me.

Then I saw him again; _that sick self satisfied smile, those deep penetrating blues as he whispered dirty things into my ear,_ all to the raucous laughter of Tommy H and all his cronies.

My eyes sprung open; my heart hammering at a million miles an hour in my chest, and I was suddenly aware my face was wet; though with sweat or tears, I couldn’t tell.

I sat up, switching on my bedside lamp in the childish hope that the light might chase away the lingering bad dream. Instead my eyes were dawn to my hand resting on top of the comforter; bright purple bruises creating shadowy shackles around my wrist.

Reality hit me once more and I broke down; tears streaming down my face as I realised this was a nightmare I would never wake up from.

I didn’t get any sleep after that, sobbing silently into my pillow case like some stupid freshman who got stood up by her homecoming date.

**_I felt so stupid_ ** _; I’d been through worse than this, for God’s sake,_ **_so why was I so damn cut up about it?_ **

Maybe it was because I’d thought just for a moment, that Billy might actually like me.

Not like Steve did with his soft brotherly consolations and his worry filled eyes; and not like Tommy H and the rest of the sleaze patrol who stared up my skirt like it was a peep show.

_I’d thought that for once in my life I’d found someone who could go toe to toe in the ring with me and put up a fair fight._

Apparently I had been mistaken; my opponent had no intention on fighting fair and wasn’t above resorting to any number of dirty tricks; even if that meant he’d end our little partnership for good.

In all my turmoil; I hadn’t noticed dad’s truck pulling up outside the house, nor had I noticed him knocking at the front door, but I could hear him now; cursing and kicking like some drunk who got locked out of his pickup.

He called out for Eleven; clearly not expecting me home yet.She didn’t answer; no surprises there. I didn’t have any doubts that she was prepared to leave him out there all night.

“ _Come on; kid. Open up. Look, I know I’m late; alright..._.” He petitioned from the other side of the front door, unaware that his entire speech was being drowned out by a rerun of The Munsters.

“ _I got candy here, alright... I got all the good stuff_.” He continued, but I knew it was falling upon death ears.

Eleven was mad; worse than that, she was hurt. And I already knew well enough how much being hurt by someone who you thought cared about you stung. Dad really had a better chance at picking the lock, than relying on a spurned tween to come to his rescue.

“ ** _Please... Will... You... Open... The.... Door!”_** He demanded, emphasising every word with a loud bang on the door, as if any amount of blustering was gonna convince El to emerge and give him entry.

Not gonna happen; I thought, but still, he was my dad. He hadn’t done anything to hurt me; at least, not intentionally.

It wasn’t fair for me to blame him just because my stupid little plan blew up in my face. He told me to go out and have a good time; not to be a slut about it.

So I dragged myself out of my bed and out of my room before my dad could give himself a hernia with all his yelling.

El still hadn’t left her room; the flickering light of the TV beneath her door the only sign of life coming from her room.

She must’ve really been pissed; and speaking of people who were pissed, dad still hadn’t given up on his ranting in the vain hope of out-stubborning a newly aged up teenager.

Stubborn or not; this teenager wasn’t so keen on being grounded till marriage, so I quickly made my way over to the cabin door, unlatching the ridiculous amount of locks lining the door. _Paranoid much?_

“ _I’m gonna freeze to death out here...”_ Dad petitioned; his tactics changing to guilt tripping, because apparently it was the backup plan to the entire Hopper family, but he never did get the chance to up the anti.

I’d reached the last lock and swung the door open; my face the perfect blend of pissed off and plain moody to dissuade him from asking any questions.

“ _Lola_?!” He blurted out; actually going as far as to look confused that his oldest daughter was home after being forced to go out to some Halloween fuck fest to confront a boy he really knew nothing about.

I strode back into the house; I was really in no mood to have a moral discussion on my night out and wanted to be back behind the closed door of my room as soon as possible.

“ _I thought you were meant to be at a party?_ ” Dad asked; because quite frankly, my dad was a complete and total idiot when it came to emotions, boys, and pretty much everything to do with raising a teenage girl.

I don’t even know why I trusted him with giving me advice on Billy in the first place. He treated everything like a fucking police interrogation, thinking you could get everything from someone if you just leaned on them a little.

I suppose he was right; but that technique worked two ways, and Billy clearly was better at playing bad cop.

“ _Lola_?” Dad called out; annoyance overtaking confusion in his voice as he realised I was ignoring him.

“ _What the hell went on_?” He asked; his chief hat and his father hat getting mixed up, but it didn’t fucking matter. Not when I could slam an slab of unvarnished wood in his face.

The door slammed; and I could still hear my dad’s blustering from the other side of the door. I knew he was gonna try and pester El on her attitude, but it would achieve him nothing but a sore throat and a sour attitude.

That was fine. We’d all earned the right to be a little pissed off tonight; some more than others. The rest of the night was destined to be spent in respective solitude, faces stained with angry tears as we each refused to talk about our problems.

Monsters were real but they didn’t hide in closets or under beds; they wore easy smiles and familiar faces, just before stabbing you in the back.

**_Happy fucking Halloween everybody!_ **


	13. Chapter Thirteen - I Hate Myself For Loving You

Sleep had been a bitch all night; which means to say that it’d run away from me nipping and screaming whilst the shadow of Billy had loomed over me all night like a malevolent spectre.

If I had to put a number on it; I’d say I slept maybe four hours, and that was including dad’s untimely interruption, because of course; he had to piss off the only person capable of opening the door from the comfort of her room.

That; and the fact that he was so damn paranoid that we had to have a minimum of three locks on the door at all times, meant that I had to go let him in.

He’d been surprised; of course. Expected me to still be partying it up at Tina’s, three sheets to the wind and with no intention of returning home anytime soon.

Proves how much attention he paid to my drinking habits; if he knew anything about me, he would’ve guessed that Tina’s annual Halloween bash was the last place I’d want to be spending my weekend.

Even with his relentless stream of questions following me back to my room; I had no intention to answer any of them. If he’d just kept his nose out and let me stay home; none of this would’ve happened.

But no; he had to play tough father for one night and expect me to ‘ _act like a man_ ’, despite his near constant insistence that I was still his little girl.

Hypocrisy never was a good disciplinary tactic, and dad’s idea of parenting more often than not aligned with his training of rookie cops.

Tough love did not sum it up, and I often had to remind him I was his daughter and not a suspect to be interrogated.

_If he could just listen to me just once; than maybe I wouldn’t be in this mess with Billy, maybe he wouldn’t have..._

_No. I couldn’t think of that again_ ; even after I’d sobbed myself to sleep, feeling so much like a stupid little girl that for the first time in nearly ten years; I found myself wanting my mom.

I hadn’t thought about her properly in years; both me and dad actively avoided it to be honest. Too many sour memories; too many late night arguments filled with words we’d both regret.

I missed her; of course, but I’d accepted that she was gone long ago; just like I had with Sara.

Dad had found that harder; his dreams too easily troubled by the things he wished he had said, things he had wished he had done.

I slept easier; the ignorance of my relative youth at the time, a better shield against regret.

Still; there was times in my life that I longed for my mother’s love.

For the sound words of advice and the gentle understanding that was so important between mother and daughter in her blossoming teenage years.

Like your first dance, when she’d take you to pick your dress and braid your hair; telling you you looked so pretty, just like a princess.

My dad bought me a dress; of course, left me traipsing through half of the strip mall to find the right one. But I’d struggled with my hair alone, eventually leaving it in its usual messy curls, because dad said I looked like a proper punk rocker.

I missed her when I first went to the movies with Steve; faking smiles whilst I was quietly terrified, because something had changed between us, and it wasn’t just the six inches he’d managed to grow over the summer whilst he was away at camp.

Dad was terrible with feelings; even worse when they involved boys, so he’d been no help there.

I’d missed just being able to talk to her; to gush about stupid teenage crushes on a boy who’d never be more than my best friend, who still called me beautiful when I’d thrown up in the popcorn bucket, blaming it on menstrual cramps.

I’d missed her more than anything last night, sobbing silently into my pillow, because I was terrified that I might wake my dad up; terrified that he might ask what’s wrong, and I’d have to tell him. I’d have to come clean about the shame that hung over me like a dark cloud; that dripped down my thighs in a guilty shimmer, baring itself for the world to see.

I’d needed her then; the cold comfort of her stroking my hair and telling me it’s gonna be okay, even if we both know it’s not, because she understood.

She understood what it was like to be a girl in this world.

To have all your expectations and worth measured up by what you could fit between your legs.

_I’d missed my mom_ , but she wasn’t coming back, no matter how much I pined for her.

The sunlight seemed especially harsh as it seeped in through the holes of my fraying drapes; my mind reacting as if it had a hangover, despite me having not touched more than a couple of drinks last night.

Part of my mind theorised that my drink might’ve been spiked. At least that would’ve given me a scapegoat for what happened with Billy; and damnit, I was thinking about him again.

I thought that this was meant to be easier in the sober light of day, but apparently I had been wrong about that too.

A large part of me was tempted just to turn over and spend the day in bed, but that would’ve aroused too much of dad’s suspicion and no doubt he’d find out the truth; and the truth was something I was determined to never see the light of day.

So instead I hauled myself out of bed, ever thankful that the ache between my legs had faded, even if my bruises hadn’t.

Those bad boys were looking particularly impressive today, blending into a myriad of violets and indigos that was sure to rival even the most battered of mugging victims.

It was gonna take a hell of a lot of concealer to cover those suckers up, and I wasn’t quite sure I had the patience, nor the supplies to do it.

I suppose I could always wear a sweater, though that would be ridiculously out of character for me and would definitely arouse my dad’s suspicion more than if I’d walked out of my room with a sign around my neck that said “ **GUILTY** ”. 

So I elected to plead the fifth to all summons from my self decided prison cell and took the coward’s way out, hiding out in my room until I was risking yet another tardiness slip from Ms McKinley.

I could hear yelling outside my room; El and dad were arguing again, a sound that was strangely reminiscent of myself at her age.

It wasn’t the kid’s fault. She was going stir crazy, being locked up like a dog in a cage; it only made sense that she’d lash out. He couldn’t keep her prisoner here; no matter how much he feared for her safety in the outside world.

She was a kid; for Christ’s sake, not a pet.

She needed to go outside and feel the sun on her face, spend some time with some kids her own age, instead of hiding in the dark watching cartoon reruns till all hours of the night.

But still, try telling my dad that. He wouldn’t hear it. Being seen outside was an unnecessary risk, and taking risks were stupid; “ ** _and we are not stupid.”_**

**_Give me a fucking break._ **

A door slammed, and I knew that Eleven had locked herself in her room, judging by the fact my dad hadn’t raced out of the house like a filly in the Kentucky Derby.

Dad was still yelling, but that was to be expected. He hardly ever relented on having the last word; too goddamn stubborn to let it be otherwise.

I emerged from my room, hoping that he’d be so busy with the current focus of his ire that I’d be able to slip out unseen. Good fucking plan that was.

“ _Oh; look who decided to show her face now_!” My dad spat with all the cold spite of a washed up forty year old with two rebellious teenagers.

I cut him some slack and ignored him, knowing this was one grenade he really didn’t wanna pull the pin out of.

Instead I swept over to the kitchen table, snatching my jacket off the chair in a clear display that I was not in the mood for his shit today.

“ _So you’re brooding too_?” He queried; clearly not getting the message that he was walking on thin ice, and my calm demeanour was really beginning to crack under the poking of his jibes.

I snatched my keys up off the tabletop, ignoring him more for his sake than mine, because if I blew; I was gonna go full on Armageddon on this bitch.

“ _It’s so nice to be surrounded by such lovely teenagers.._.” He spat, but I really didn’t need to stand around here and listen to his bitching.

He thought dealing with a barely pubescent kid was hard; he should try dealing with a hormonal meathead twice his size who wouldn’t take no as an answer.

So I stormed out of the house, slamming the door in his face in what must’ve been becoming a familiar experience for him, before making my way over to my bike.

I might not be able to outrun my problems, but when I knew I could hit 120 on my Triumph; I sure as hell was gonna try.

———————————————————-

I arrived at school ten minutes earlier than expected, but that was probably due to the three red lights I’d ran on the way over.

I mean; it’s not like I was gonna get arrested. I was the chief’s daughter for Christ’s sake; the most I’d get is a ticket.

My dad would chew me out about it, but I really didn’t care; if he wanted to talk to me about responsibility, he should’ve considered that before he’d forgotten about the thirteen year old waiting alone in our cabin on Halloween whilst he played Magnum half the night.

I’d pulled up in the parking lot, yanking my helmet off and tossing it onto the back of my bike, before marching into school like I was running drills because I was still steaming over how he acted this morning.

The fucking nerve to have a go at me, when he was the one continuously neglecting his parental responsibilities.

_I know it wasn’t socially acceptable to hit your dad, but I swear to God..._

“ _Whore_...” Sneered a voice, and at first I thought I was hearing things, because someone sure as hell wasn’t saying that to me.

I ignored it, continuing striding through the halls as I made a beeline for my locker.

“ _Like a fucking hooker..._ ” Another murmur cut through the bustle of the hallway chatter, and this time I knew I wasn’t imagining it.

Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of Alex Kaplinsky and one of his basketball buds snickering as they walked down the hall, grins and eyes flickering in my direction.

_Since when did these dicks grow balls?_

Seems like everyone had heard about my eventful night at Tina’s, even the kids who hadn’t been there judging by the nasally snorts coming from Nora Pierson and the rest of the debate team.

And of course, as it was whenever someone who garnered even the slightest amount of respect in this school did something risqué; it was the hot topic of the hour, whispers and giggles following me through the halls.

_I tried to ignore it; I really did._

_Why should I give a_ **_flying fuck_ ** _what the brain dead populous of Hawkins High thought about my sex life?_

It’s not like they didn’t do it anyway; regurgitating wild rumours varying from me to being a downright prude, to me fucking half the cheerleading team, because _of course; when a girl says she’d rather gag herself with a spoon than suck you off,_ **_she’s gotta be batting for the other team._**

The most recent and popular spin of the rumour mill this month would’ve been a recycled story that I was Harrington’s bit on the side for when he got bored of Nancy; something that had been circulating on and off for about three years whenever everyone decided the tantalising thought of the lesbian virgin seemed too far fetched.

That all heated up with the arrival of Billy; creating the teen movie love triangle I never wanted.

Everyone secretly pinned their bets on their favourite, though Billy clearly was the front runner; all testosterone and muscle, and now with a pair of my ruined panties in his belt, Steve really was lagging behind.

I held my head high as I reached the final stretch to my locker; the place I knew I’d come across the majority of first hand witnesses from the party.

“ _Such a slut..._ ” Hissed a smirking Tina to an equally venomous Ally; both of them staring at me and gossiping like I’d just decided to become a prostitute.

Gone was Tina’s fake smiles; no longer having to commit to the act of gracious host, returning to her former role of cheerleading captain and Hawkins High’s resident bitch.

They were just bitter; angry that with all their skimpy spandex and neon eyeshadow, Billy had still passed over them like they were yesterday’s cafeteria lunch.

Well; fuck ‘em both.

I never cared about the thoughts of Tina or Aly; they both despised me anyway. Forcing fake smiles in front of Steve; only to talk shit about me later.

**Fuck Tina** and **Ally** , and **fuck anyone else who thought they could judge me**.

I’d almost reached my locker; I could see Steve’s ridiculous hair rising above the crowd at the opposite end of the hallway, a clear signifier that my walk of shame was almost over.

“ ** _Hey Lola. Got time for another dance partner?_** ”Chirped the voice of Tommy H, and normally I’d be seconds away from gaining myself a collection of molars, but instead I nearly jumped out of my skin, because where the vultures circle; the lions can never be far off.

But lucky or unlucky; I couldn’t decide, it was just Carol and Tommy cackling like the perfect pair of hyenas. I didn’t even say anything in response; _fucking weak._

**_What the fuck was wrong with me?_ ** _Since when could I be snickered into submission by Tommy H?_

Well; since his mullet headed idol decided to make a sideshow of me, **that’s when.**

**_Jesus; when would this day be over?_ **

I’d only been in school for less than ten minutes and already I was torn between leaving and never coming back, and burning the place down, or some strange combination of the both.

If I saw Billy Hargrove today; I’m not sure I’d be able to stop myself from knocking him into next week! _The slimy fucking bastard!_

But I had to hold back; from slaughtering Billy and everyone else who dared snicker at me in the hallways, because I could see Steve clearly now; tall lanky form peering into his locker as if the whole world went straight over his head.

I strode up to my locker and immediately set to work on opening it; happy to let Steve remain in whatever little fantasy filled that pretty head of his. He didn’t need my venom; he’d done enough for me.

“ _Hopper_...” He purred, and without even looking up from my locker, I could sense the smirk on his face; our normal playful banter routine resuming with clockwork regularity.

“ _Steve; I really don’t have time for this today._ ” I sighed impatiently; both irritated by his easygoing nature, yet strangely jealous that he could just assume normality with such little effort.

Perhaps it’s true what they say; ignorance is bliss, and judging by the carefree smile on his face, Steve was still completely oblivious to today’s rumour mill.

That, or he’d chosen complete denial and ignored the whole thing entirely; though Steve always seemed too much of a hothead for that.

“ _Lo; are you alright?_ ” Steve asked, concern dripping from his tone as he looked at me with those big doe eyes.

_But of course I wasn’t damn alright_. I was wrongfully crowned the new reigning slut of Hawkins High, with a fabricated body count rising into the early twenties; all thanks to Billy Hargrove and my inability to handle even a smidgeon of alcohol.

But of course; I couldn’t tell Steve that.

Not when I risked him getting a quick fire concussion at the hands of my least favourite bad boy.

So instead I slammed my locker door; managing to growl a thoroughly unconvincing “ ** _just peachy..._** ” through gritted teeth.

Peachy or not; my locker really didn’t fucking care, refusing to shut itself despite me slamming it with all the force of the five hundred backhand slaps Billy and his cohorts had long been overdue.

“ _Here, Lo; let me help with that.._.” Steve offered, reaching across with all the casual chivalry I really didn’t need right now.

_What I needed was a twenty pound mallet and for Billy Hargrove_ to keep his head still for a while, but considering that was as likely as the virgin lesbian rumours coming true; I had to settle with taking my anger out on my locker door.

“ ** _I’ve got it._** ” I insisted, slamming the door with even more force this time; so hard that I’m pretty sure it’d leave a dent. It stayed shut this time.

I then turned to make my way to first period algebra, because I knew if I spent another minute with Steve, I’d start taking my anger out on him; and he really didn’t deserve that.

“ _Wow! Do think she’s pregnant_?!” Snickered Ally to Tina as I passed; her complete obliviousness to anything exceptfashion magazines astounding me more than ever.

I shot her a set of daggers, because rumours or not; I still had some amount of respect in this school, and damnit; if I wouldn’t use some of that to remind her where to get off.

Ally and Tina both flinched, and although I’d preferred that they scattered like cockroaches in the sunlight; that would have to do.

**_Fuck_ ** _this fucking school,_ **_fuck_ ** _Tina and Aly,_ **_fuck_ ** _Tommy H and Carol; but most of all,_ **_Fuck Billy Hargrove!_ **


	14. Chapter Fourteen - Sticks And Stones

“ ** _Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me._** ”

Yeah; words couldn’t hurt you, but they could grate your nerves raw till the point I was damn ready to crack skulls myself.

The rumour mill was a ravenous, vicious machine, and it had already been well intent on chewing me up and spitting me out long before Billy’s little stunt at the party.

Now it was churning up new stories with a renewed vigour.

One minute; I was having a threesome with Billy and Steve, then it was Billy and Tommy, and then it was a foursome.

So far this morning I’d been _Impregnated_ , _paid_ and _pornographied_ in at least twelve different ways according to the wild and unscrupulous orgy that was apparently my sex life.

It was really wearing quite thin, and considering how desperate half the school was for attention, supposed witnesses to my promiscuity were ten a penny.

Surprisingly, against all this backdrop of debauchery and sin, Billy had come away pretty much unscathed.

Funny that; how a man could be celebrated for his apparent conquests, when I could only be seen as a loose slut who was probably infectious.

Speaking of Billy Hargrove; I hadn’t even seen the so called triumphant Lothario all day, though if I had; I’d be sure to make sure the only impregnating he’d be doing was fictional.

Lucky for him; the school day was over, and I was minutes away from attempting to break the land speed record on the back of my Triumph; my motivation, the endless ribbing of teenage dipshits.

I strode across the parking lot of Hawkins High; whispers finally ceasing to follow me as the brain dead school populous finally realised I was one muttered jab away from first degree murder.

Eyes still followed me, but they’d shy away as soon as I’d look at them; self preservation a killer when it got held up against a lust for popularity.

My eyes saw him before I heard him.

Pretty in a white shirt and double denim, Billy Hargrove worked fast; the flaming red head of Ally clear next to him as he finished his cigarette leant against his Camaro.

I saw red, and it took every ounce of my self control not to march over there and deck the prick,because there was no way he got to cause me all that grief, then move on like I was another filly to break in. 

Instead I marched towards my Triumph, making pace double time, because I knew if my pace faltered, so would my restraint.

“ _Hey Lola..._ ” His voice called out, and I could hear the heavy fall of his motorcycle boots as he hurried to catch up to me.

I just sped up, because _no; we weren’t going to do this now,_ ** _not if he wanted to keep all of his teeth._**

“ _Fuck off Billy._ ” I spat; three words hissed through my teeth like the foulest of venom, making it _loud_ and _clear_ that this was not a warning.

“ _C’mon Lo.._.” He had the cheek to purr, pulling on my sleeve like we were some bickering couple, and **_I swear to God_** _; I should’ve floored him right there; restraint be damned._

**_“I said; fuck off!_** ” I yelled, spinning to face him with fury in my eyes and poison in my lungs.

I didn’t care that he was a whole foot taller than me; I didn’t care that he could probably bench press me in his sleep, _if Billy fucking Hargrove wanted me to throttle him in the car park for the whole school to see, I’d be more than happy to oblige._

He looked at me; his eyes intense, studying me as they flicked across my face.

I ran a hand across my cheek, wiping away the start of a tear, because goddamnit; I wasn’t about to cry in front of him again. 

I was angry, and hurt, and that prick had the fucking cheek to look concerned about it as he started me down with sympathetic blue eyes.

“ _You’re upset with me..._ ” He stated; his voice not at all accusatory, but just the statement alone got me riled up.

“ _Gee; I_ ** _wonder_** _why that could be?!_ ” I sneered as I strode towards my bike, eager to get as far away from Billy Hargrove as possible, and maybe run him over with my bike.

“ _C’mon Lola, talk to me.._.” He asked, trying to come across as reasonable, but sounding every inch the petulant child to my unsympathetic ears; though really, **_what could the fucker expect?_**

“ _And what could we_ ** _possibly_** _have to talk about? Hmm?_ ” I asked, sounding condescending as fuck as I paused from sorting my helmet just to drag this bitch.

“ _How you acted a total dick all of Saturday night_?” I asked, keeping the first accusation light, because the real heavy hitters were best suited for when he inevitably tried to defend himself.

“ _Or how you took advantage of me then left me standing there like a hooker_?” I spat, but still no dice.

Billy stood there taking it like a man, when really I wanted him to whine and scream like a little girl, because he didn’t get to be such a smug little shit, then play the mature one for an audience.

**_But you know fucking what_** ; that was fine, because I still hadn’t brought out the big guns.

“ _Or_ ** _maybe_** _, just maybe you want to talk about how the entire school thinks_ ** _you_** **_fucked me on the floor of Tina’s bathroom?_** ” I spat, annunciating every word like it was the most incredulous thing I’d ever said.

_“I never said that—_ “ Billy cut in, actually having the nerve to smile and look sheepish, but it was easy for him; it wasn’t his reputation getting dragged through the mud.

“ ** _But you didn’t deny it either_**.” I corrected him, unwilling to play these stupid “ _he said, she said”_ games with him.

He knew what he’d done. That by just smiling and looking smug when asked about the rumours, he’d only fanned them further. He was as responsible as Tommy for this shitshow, and _quite frankly;_ I didn’t have the patience.

I threw my leg over my bike and pulled on my helmet, ready to make a speedy exit and hopefully blow enough exhaust fumes in Billy’s face that he’d keel over.

“ _C’mon Lola; we can talk about this.._.” He petitioned; that same needy whine edging into his voice that _I was sure drove the girls wild._

I just kick started my engine, pleased with how it’s ferocious roar drowned out his voice.

“ _Lola_...” He called out again, but **fuck him.**

Two more revs and I was cruising out of the parking lot at way above the fifteen miles per hour suggested speed limit, leaving Billy choking on a bitter tasting cloud of dust and gasoline fumes.

**_Fuck; did revenge taste sweet!_ **

—————————————————

Sixteen minutes was an all time record for my ride home, and yeah; I’m pretty sure that patrol car out near State Street caught me speeding, but fuck if any of the blues in this town tried to cuff the chief’s daughter.

The woodland air tasted like mulch and rot and earth, but _damn if that weren’t the sweetest thing_ when I was soaring over tree roots, feeling every inch the Evel Knievel as trees flew past in a blur of burnt orange.

When I’d pulled up outside the cabin; I’d expected some small act of retaliation from the kid; a window left open, or a lock undone, but what I was greeted with made my stomach drop right out of me.

**The door was wide open;** and I’m not talking blown open by the wind, **_but swung open wide, as if by force._**

I dropped my bike faster than a bag of rocks, not caring about the damage; I _could replace parts, I couldn’t replace the kid_.

I rushed up the steps, taking them in one solid bound, before pausing at the door frame; my heart hammering in my chest like a jackhammer.

“ _El_?” I called into the emptiness; my eyes scanning over the seemingly undisturbed interior of the cabin.

Everything was right where we’d left it this morning, from the pile of dirty laundry by the kitchen, to the unwashed glass on the coffee table.

I swept across the room, making a beeline for her room; dread in the pit of my stomach.

The door was closed, but I feared what I might see on the other side.

_Images of a dark night less than a year ago sprang into my mind; a house hidden in the woods, the scent of blood and offal, a sharp hissing that stayed in my mind for weeks._

“ _Eleven_.” I called out as I sprung open the door; my breath held as I gazed on what should’ve been a horror.

**_Empty_**.

Eleven’s things were all where she’d usually leave them; pyjamas crinkled up on the floor, a book on the nightstand, but no Eleven.

It almost appeared that she’d disappeared off the face of the earth, _and with the knowledge I now had about Hawkins, that very well might’ve been a possibility._

Still; I wasn’t going to give up that easy, **I was a Hopper; goddamnit!**

I strode back to the front of the house and onto the porch, determined not to think the worse; that _somehow, somewhere she was okay._

“ ** _Eleven_**?!” I called out into the woodlands, caring very little on who heard as my eyes scanned the tree line for a sign of life; anything that could’ve told me what might’ve happened.

Nothing.

Not a snapped branch or a disturbed shrub. Even the traps were untouched. It was truly like she...

_No; no, that couldn’t be true._

“ ** _Eleven_**...” I yelled again, panic begging to seep into my voice, because _this couldn’t have happened;_ ** _it shouldn’t have._**

**We’d been careful; damnit!**

**_We’d taken no unnecessary risks!_ **

_She couldn’t be gone._

Panic was begin to bubble up further now; my heart drumming in my chest like a racehorse.

I needed to talk to dad; _maybe he had her, maybe she’d..._

**_No; Christ that was stupid, they wouldn’t have...._ **

I ran back into the house, diving on the HAM radio with the desperation of a soldier reaching for a gun.

My mind racked for the bit of Morse code my dad had taught me; tiny snippets of dots and dashes dancing into memory.


	15. Chapter Fifteen - Friends Don't Lie

**_Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit_**.

One repeated cuss that had become my mantra for the past five hours.

When I flew into the police station like the devil was on my heels, Flo had assumed the worst; her wrinkled eyes blown wide at the sight of a near frantic Hopper careering towards her.

“ ** _Flo, Flo; is my dad here?_** ” I’d near demanded; my messy blonde hair sticking to my forehead in an unsightly mess.

“ _No, Lola; he’s out on patrol. Can I help you with anything sweetheart; you look worried?_ ” She’d asked with all the softness of the grandmother I’d never had, her hands reaching out to steady me.

“ _No, no. I just really need to speak to my dad...”_ I tried to reassure her, but my near panting did little to steady the nerves.

“ _Well; I can try his radio Lola, but are you sure there’s nothing I can do for you?_ ” Flo continued to insist, even as she trotted over to the comms desk, her short legs surprisingly nimble at her age.

“ _No, no. Just; if you could get through to him, that would be great.._.” I replied, eager to speak to my dad ASAP.

She picked up the radio, first tuning into my dad’s frequency, before speaking into it.

“ _Chief Hopper; do you come in? This is the station...”_ Flo called, her voice steady as she waited for a response.

_Nothing_?

“ _I_ _have Lola with me Jim; do you come in?_ ” She asked, but still silence.

We both waited on baited breathe as the silence seemed to stretch on eternal.

Flo took her thumb off the button.

“ _Sweetie; I don’t think he’s gonna answer.”_ Flo said; her eyes softly sympathetic, but she must’ve seen the wild look in my eye and mistook it for fear.

“ _But we can try again.._.” She nodded, pressing her thumb down on the button once more.

————————————————-

I always thought the discovery that a child was missing would be the worst part; that one moment when time seemed to slow to a stop and realisation hit you faster than a freight train, but I was wrong.

_It was the waiting that was killer._

Rocking back and forth on the edge of a worn couch, unable to sit comfortably, because **_goddamnit; she was somewhere out there!_** Chewing nails down to the beds, the taste of blood on my tongue, because already my mind had jumped to the worst case scenario, and that thought made bile rise up from my stomach.

Dad was no better; pacing up and down like a caged bear, contributing to the steadily growing pile of cigarette butts on the kitchen ashtray.

When he’d pulled up to the police station, his face cycled through the seven stages of grief; all sorts of wild and painful theories on why I’d called him crossing his mind.

_I never rang him at work; not even when I fell off my bike and had to get twelve stitches in my left thigh._

_There was very little a Hopper couldn’t deal with by themselves; so for me to call in for backup meant that the truly unthinkable had happened._

He’d rushed towards me; an unsettling mix of relief, confusion and concern passing over his face, because _yes; I was okay, but I’d still called him, and that meant some serious shit had happened._

“ ** _Thank God!_** ” Dad exclaimed, pulling me to his chest in the best attempt of a hug a Hopper could reach for.

“ ** _Are you alright Lo? What happened?_** ” He asked as he pulled away, hands still resting on my flushed cheeks.

“ _I’m fine, I’m fine._ ” I insisted; my pulse finally slowing a little now I knew I wouldn’t be alone in this.

“ _But we need to go home .._.” I insisted; my voice firm.

“ ** _Now_**.” I gave him a look, conscious of Flo’s worried form standing mere feet away.

“ _Of course._ ” He nodded, already reading between the lines and making his way back to his car; me following close behind.

“ _Wait Hop; where are you going?_ ” Flo asked, picking up on our sudden exit.

“ _Family emergency. Got to clock out early._ ” He gruffly explained already unlocking his car.

I climbed into the passenger seat, knowing I could come back for my bike later, and that I really needed to give dad the lowdown on what to expect when we got home.

“ _But what do I tell Joyce Byers? She’s been calling all morning..._ ” Flo hounded my dad as he climbed into his truck; our family’s ever illusive nature clearly losing its charm for her.

“ _Shit. Right.._.” Dad hissed, pausing to rapidly switch between his dad hat to his Chief hat.

“ _Tell her I’ll call her from home when I’ve sorted out this mess_.” He said, giving Flo a look that let her know he wasn’t just saying it to keep her out of his hair.

“ _Alright Hop._ ** _But you best keep your word_**.” Flo conceded, before slamming the door shut for him.

Dad turned over the engine, the truck roaring to life, before he quickly spun it around in the parking lot; probably breaking several traffic laws in that manoeuvre alone.

He bombed it out of the parking lot, speeding onto the street as if we were hot in pursuit.

“ ** _Tell me what happened.”_** Dad demanded, all business as he refused to take his eyes off the road for even a minute.

I took a deep breath, before launching into a word for word account on what I’d found when I’d gotten home that afternoon.

——————————————————

Sitting in that cabin felt as close to torture as I was probably gonna get; the oppressive silence near stifling, because dad refused to do anything besides smoke and brood since he’d finished tearing the house apart.

**_And he wondered where we got it from?!_ **

I’d really expected more finesse from an acting police chief, but apparently _searching for clues looked a hell of a lot like having a tantrum_ , and I got a glimpse at what might’ve happened if I’d ever decided to call his bluff and run away to Steve’s one day.

The whole thing wasn’t pretty, and once dad had resolved that Eleven wasn’t actually hiding beneath any of the furnishings; he’d resorted to the Hopper Family’s most favoured pastime; **_simmering in absolute broodiness._**

I heard footsteps outside; so light it could’ve been a hallucination, if not for the thunderous ones that followed.

The door opened and I looked up; relief flooding my system in a rush of endorphins that left me running over to her, encompassing her in a tight hug.

“ _Thank God...”_ I sighed into her hair, unable to stop myself from running my fingers through the curls, because _yes; I wasn’t hallucinating and she really was okay._

_“I was so damn worried about you_.” I said with a pained smile, pulling away to take a good look at her, just in case she was in fact an illusion.

She smiled back at; the familiar warmth removing all doubts from my mind, only to be ripped away with the angry slam of a door.

“ ** _Friends don’t lie...”_ **Dad spat; his face the picture of fury as he loomed in the doorway, his gaze nearly burning holes into Eleven’s skin.

“ ** _Isn’t that your bullshit saying?_** ”

“ _Dad; give her a break..._ ” I petitioned from the floor, still kneeling at Eleven’s height.

“ ** _After she deliberately disobeyed me?!_** ” Dad asked incredulously; his eyes switching to shoot their venom at me.

“ ** _No; that’s not happening._** ”

Eleven was a smart kid, and pissed off to boot, so she took the first initiative and headed to her room.

“ _El._..” I called after her, following close behind, because as much as I understood her desire to run away from this; I knew dad wasn’t going to make this that easy for her.

“ ** _Hey_**! _Don’t you walk away from me..._ ” Dad growled, charging towards us both with adamant ferocity.

El attempted to throw the door shut on him, but he caught it, storming into the room with his accusations blazing.

“ _Where’d you go on your little field trip; huh?_ ” He interrogated, blocking the door as if she was about to make a break for it any minute.

“ ** _Where_**?!”

“ _C’mon dad._..” I petitioned, stepping between them, because if this came to blows; I really didn’t want to be the one cleaning up.

“ ** _No; Lola_** _. I want an explanation._ ” Dad cut in; his stony face making it clear he would not be argued with on this.

He turned his attention back to Eleven, who was currently stripping out of her coat; her face the silent image of petulance at the humble age of thirteen.

“ _Did you see Mike?_ ” Dad asked; his tone making it seem more of an accusation than a question.

“ _He didn’t see me_.” Eleven insisted, finally breaking her silence in order to engage him at the most basic of levels.

“ _Yeah... well; that mother and daughter did...”_ He retaliated, sweeping further into the room to confront her.

“ ** _And they called the cops..._** ”

El didn’t respond; just gave him a look that harboured such bitterness, I doubted even I could match it.

“ _Now; did anyone else see you?_ ** _Anyone at all?”_** He interrogated, getting up in her face as if she was some dirtbag in the cells.

“ _Dad_...” I cautioned; I could see El’s gears were already grinding, but it didn’t matter.

“ ** _Come on; I need you to think..._** ” Dad yelled; his face turning red.

“ ** _Nobody saw me._** ” El hissed; her eyes dark with a cold fury, _but that didn’t matter._

_Nothing mattered to dad._

“ _You put us in danger.._.” Dad began to lecture; his anger barely contained beneath accusatory words.

“ ** _You put Lola in danger._** _You understand that right?_ ”

_But no; she didn’t understand that. She was a kid; she just wanted to get some air, but I don’t think that mattered to Dad._

“ _You promised... I go.._..” Eleven yelled; the words getting caught in her throat as she screamed them at him.

“ ** _And I never leave! Nothing ever happens!_** ”

“ ** _Nothing ever happens and you stay safe!_** ” Dad roared, meeting her word for word in red faced fury.

He reached up to pinch his nose; the clear sign a headache was coming on and that maybe he should give it a rest.

“ _Come on Dad..._ ” I soothed gently, reaching out to touch his arm. “ _That’s enough._ ”

He didn’t say anything; just sighed and rubbed his eyes in a worn tiredness, drawing attention to the fine lines across his face.

But Eleven wasn’t to be cowed so easily; teenage hormones alongside a general sense of indignation a nasty fuel for the anger within.

“ ** _You lie_**!” She spat; marching over to dad like she could take him on singlehandedly, _and knowing her powers, she probably could._

“ _I don’t lie._ ** _I protect_** _and_ ** _I feed_** _and_ ** _I teach_** _..._ ” Dad ranted; his blooming headache forgotten in the slight of her insubordination.

“ _And all I ask of you is that you follow three simple rules!_ ** _Three rules!_** _And you know what?!_ ** _You can’t even do that!_** ” He yelled; his face turning from red to purple in the dim cabin light.

“ ** _Dad; that’s enough..._** ” I stepped forward; once more taking my place between them because this was getting too heated, too fast.

“ ** _You’re grounded!_** ” Dad yelled; ignoring me in favour of sticking an ultimatum on her before storming out of the room; his face that of a man on a warpath.

Eleven swung her foot into the drawers, kicking it with a loud **thump** that told me it must’ve hurt more than she was letting on.

“ _You know what that means?_ ” Dad asked; his voice echoing from the other room as I crouched down in an attempt to soothe Eleven, well aware she was a ticking time bomb about to blow.

“ _That means_ ** _no Eggos..._** ” Dad ranted, and I could hear the fridge door open and close, then the sound of boxes being tossed into the trash.

“ ** _Really dad?_** ” I asked; looking up at him incredulously, because _he was really gonna do this like this?_

He didn’t take any notice, already half way across the living room and making a beeline for the TV. Eleven spotted him first, striding past me to the doorway to make her stand.

“ _And no TV for a week._ ” Dad barked, attempting to lift the set in its entirety, but it wouldn’t budge.

Not when Eleven stood there holding it down with her mind; **_and what did he really think was gonna happen?!_**

“ _Alright; knock it off.”_ Dad said, straightening up to look her in the eye.

“ ** _Let go_**.”

Eleven shook her head; a thin stream of blood trickling from her nose in the effort, because **_goddamnit; we were nothing if not stubborn!_**

Dad tried to pull the TV up again, refusing to budge on her punishment, no matter how much she resisted.

“ _Okay. T_ ** _wo weeks._** ” Dad stated, before attempting to rip up the TV from the ground with sheer brute force.

“ _Dad; this is getting ridiculous...”_ I reasoned, but it didn’t matter.

Reason and ridicule were nothing when faced with Jim Hopper’s wrath.

“ ** _Let go..._** ” Dad growled at Eleven, shooting daggers at her.

She just shook her head again.

“ ** _A month!_** ” He announced, but that was finally too much for El.

“ ** _No!_** ” She argued back; blood now trickling down across her lips and into her mouth.

“ _Well;_ ** _congratulations_** _. You just went from no TV for a month,_ ** _to no TV at all._** ” He declared, marching over to the plug socket and wrenching the plug from the wall.

“ ** _No!_** ” El screamed despair, rushing over to the TV in attempt to revive what was her sole companion most of the time.

“ _Eleven; sweetie, it’s okay..._ ” I tried to reassure her as she desperately fiddled with the TV switch, unsuccessfully trying to turn it on.

“ ** _Don’t comfort her!_** ” He demanded, shooting me a cutting look that had all my hackles on the rise.

“ _She’s got to understand that there are consequences to her actions..._ ”

“ ** _She’s a child!_** ” I reminded him, because _someone here had to remember that._

He opened his mouth to spit something back, when Eleven interrupted.

“ ** _You are just like papa._** ” Eleven spat; tears in her dark eyes, blood trickling down her chin.

“ _Really? I’m like that psychotic son of a bitch?”_ Dad muttered, rubbing his brow frustratedly.

“ _You wanna go back to the lab?_ ” He challenged her; eyes cold and unfeeling.

“ _Dad; don’t say that..._ ” I warned coldly; already seeing he was leading himself down a path he didn’t want to tread.

“ ** _No; if that’s what she wants..._** ” Dad interrupted; his eyes returning to Eleven, staring her down accusingly. “ ** _Because I can make that happen_**.”

“ ** _Dad; stop._** ” I warned; raising my voice, _because I’d been here before on different circumstances, and I knew he was going to say something he’d regret._

“ ** _I hate you!_** ” Eleven screamed; bitterness heavy in her voice.

“ _Well I’m not too crazy about you either_.” Dad retorted, and I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to stop this; but _my god, if I weren’t gonna try._

“ ** _Dad; that’s enough...”_** I cautioned, but he was on a roll where all paths ended at Eleven.

“ _You wanna know why?_ ** _You’re a brat!”_** He snarled, _digging the knife in a little deeper with every word._

“ _You know what that word means?_ ** _Brat?_** ”

He pulled a dictionary off the bookshelf, flicking through the pages with sardonic dedication.

“ _Well; that can be your word of the day. Let’s look it up..._ ” He continued, tearing through the pages with vicious efficiency.

“ _Dad_ —“ I tried, but he interrupted, holding a hand up for silence.

_“B-R-A-T._ ** _Brat._** ” He repeated, tossing the dictionary towards her, but she stopped it midair, allowing it to hover menacingly.

“ _Eleven; put that down..._ ” I instructed, because I knew that look in her eye, and it didn’t mean anything good.

She tossed it back towards him, narrowly missing his head as it fell to the floor in a loud thump.

“ ** _Hey?! What the hell is wrong with you?_**!” He grilled, striding through the room towards her.

She used her mind to pull the couch forward, striking him hard in the shin.

“ ** _Hey?!_** ” Dad exclaimed, but Eleven was already storming off to her room.

“ _Eleven_...” I called after her, but dad had already beaten me to it, following after her at military speed.

“ ** _Hey!_** ” He shouted, as a bookcase toppled down onto him, narrowly stopped by his outstretched arm.

“ ** _Hey! Hey!_** ” He yelled after her as she slammed her bedroom door, causing the house to shake for the second time that night.

“ _Dad; stop...”_ I petitioned, making my way over to him as he attempted to open her door to no avail.

“ ** _Open this door!_** ” He yelled, shaking the doorknob vigorously, despite knowing it would do nothing.

“ _Dad; come on, please..._ ” I asked, finally reaching him and attempting to pry his hand off the doorknob.

He snatched it away angrily, before pounding on the door, yelling repeatedly.

“ ** _Open this door! Open this damn door!_** ” He roared, pummeling the wood with his fists, and I swear I could hear sobbing on the other side.

“ ** _You wanna go out in the world?! You better grow up!_** ” He spat, _and I honestly couldn’t believe I was hearing such spite from my father;_ ** _a grown man, for Christ’s sake!_**

“ ** _Grow. The. Hell. Up_**!” He screamed, slamming his fists into the door with every syllable.

“ ** _Dad; stop!_** ” I yell; squeezing myself between him and the door, because I was honestly worried he was about to break the thing down.

I stared into his red face; his eyes ablaze with a fury I’d never seen before, _and for a split second, I thought he might hit me._

**_Then Eleven screamed._ **

An ear piercing shriek that made your ears feel like they’re about to start bleeding. I clamped my hands over my head, trying to stop the sound from splitting my skull in two.

Both dad and I fell to our knees, and I could make out the sound of glass shattering and then beginning to fall down on us.

Dad sheltered me from the most of it; tiny shards spilling onto the floor in a mosaic of crystal.

_And just when I thought my brain would burst from the pressure;_ **it stopped** , Eleven’s screams dimming into a sob through the wood.


	16. Chapter Sixteen - Daddy  Dearest

No one even bothered cleaning up the glass; all three of us too tired and jagged from words better left unsaid.

Not even a word had been spoken since; Eleven refusing to leave her room, and me ducking into my own soon after the ordeal.

_Not that it mattered._

Dad didn’t even try to talk to us; still wound up too tightly to say anything but cutting remarks.

I’m pretty sure he’d fallen asleep on the couch, refusing to leave his post out of pure spite; **_and what do you know?_** When I peered our from my room, he was still there.

I edged out of my room, having already memorised every creaky floorboard and loose nail in true teenage renegade fashion.

Step by step, I made it across the living room, tiptoeing through a gauntlet of shattered glass and upturned furniture just waiting to trip me up.

I lost my footing; my heel falling down on a particularly large shard of glass; the sharp crunch cutting through the air like a gunshot.

_Dad snorts, and my heart stops in my chest_.

I dared a glance up at him, dreading the conversation we’d have if he woke.

To my relief he remained dead to the world; half drunk bottle of beer still gripped in his hand. He lets out aloud snore, lazily lifting his wrist to run at his nose, before falling limp once more.

I let out a sigh of relief, thanking whatever God was up there was too preoccupied to humiliate me.

I then lifted my foot, holding back a hiss as the motion finally stirred my pain reflex; the glass feeling as painful as the metaphors might suggest.

Balancing rather deftly on one leg, I raised my foot up, allowing me to get a better look at the cut.

It had bled a lot, but it wasn’t deep; the bloody shard that caused it still wedged in my skin.

I pulled it out, wincing when the jagged edges caught on exit, but still; it would be fine.

_I’d had splinters worse; I swear._

After that I was more careful, rising up on my tiptoes so only the barest amount of my foot touched the floor as I made my way across to Eleven’s room.

I reached it without further injury, lightly rapping my knuckles on the door.

“ _El, it’s me; Lola. Can I come in?_ ” I asked in a hoarse whisper, leaning in close to the wood lest dad might hear me.

_Silence_.

“ _I know it’s late, but I thought you could use some company...”_ I continued; not entirely sure that the kid wasn’t fast asleep and I was talking to thin air.

_Still nothing._

I tried one last desperate attempt, hoping that somehow she’d be listening.

_“I bought Eggos._ ” I said, and it wasn’t entirely a lie. I’d fished them out of the trash when dad wasn’t looking, guessing I might need some bargaining chips later, and hid them underneath my mattress where dad wouldn’t find them.

The door clicked as it unlocked, swinging open ever so slightly.

It seemed my ploy payed off.

I snuck into the room, making sure to make as little sound as possible as I shut the door behind me.

El was sat on the floor, knees tucked up to her chest in a position that was universally recognisable as upright foetal; a clear sign she wasn’t quite over what dad had said yet.

Tear stains streaked her cheeks; her eyes still red and puffy from crying, and dried blood crusted beneath her nose from where she’d attempted to wipe it away with her sleeve.

Overall; she looked a sorry state, and my heart cried out in sympathy for her. It wasn’t easy going head on with Jim Hopper’s fury, especially not at thirteen years old with no experience.

“ _Hey El..._ ” I smiled, slowly approaching her much like you’d approach a startled horse; _all soft words and gentle movements._

“ _Can I sit down?_ ” I asked, slowly lowering myself to her level.

She nodded, and I sunk down beside her, sitting with my back to the wall so she didn’t feel pressured to look me in the eye.

“ _Y’know; all that destroying things with your mind stuff, that’s pretty badass..._ ” I remarked, grasping for something to break the silence.

“ _I could think of a few situations I could use that.._.” I continued, giving her a sly look, because it was true. I could use that; _especially if it meant scaring the shit out of a certain pretty boy who couldn’t seem to keep his hands off me._

But this was about Eleven; not me.

“ _Do you want an Eggo?_ ” I offered, reaching into the oversized pockets of my shirt where I’d hidden my haul.

El nodded, managing a small smile that licked at the corners of her mouth.

I pulled out the Eggos, slightly regretful that they’d become so crushed in transit.

“ _They’re a little squished. Had to hide them from the fun patrol..._ ” I joked, pulling the cellophane wrapper from one before handing it to her.

“ _But they’re still good._ ”

El took a bite from it, before smiling and nodding.

“ _Still good._ ” She agreed, taking another bite.

I watched her eat for a moment, savouring that small satisfied smile that stretched across her face every time she took a bite.

I knew I was gonna have to talk to her. At least try to foster some forgiveness between her and dad before sunrise. _God knows the pair of them were too pigheaded to do so themselves_ , but still; the challenge seemed daunting in its own way.

“ _You know; all that shit dad said earlier, he didn’t mean it._ ” I began, fixing my gaze on the door opposite, because I wasn’t sure I could do this if she was looking straight at me.

“ _You’re not..._ ”

“ _A brat?_ ” She finished my sentence; no hint of accusation in her words, just pure curiosity.

“ _No; you’re not a brat._ ” I confirmed; my voice dropping low, because I really didn’t like to use that word for the kid; not after all she’d been through.

I reached out for her, grasping my hand around her own and interlacing our fingers, if not for her sake then for my own; because I wasn’t good with emotions and _shit; I was gonna need some moral support for this one._

“ _It’s just... sometimes he gets real mad and doesn’t know what he’s saying and he does stuff that can really hurt...”_ I tried to explain; the confession coming harder than I thought it would.

“ _Hopper hurt you?_ ” She asked; though her phrasing made it seem more like a statement than a question.

“ _What_?” I replied; confused on what made her think that.

She reached across with her spare hand, fingers gently tracing my wrist where deep purple bruises decorated my skin in the shape of fingerprints.

“ ** _Hopper hurt you?_** ” She repeated herself; her intention clearer now than before. My stomach sunk again at the realisation.

_She thought dad hit me_ ; the genuine concern on her face laced with resentment a more cutting tool than any weapon. She honestly believed that my dad would hurt me; physically and not just with words. It made my heart break in my chest.

“ _No, sweetie; no_.” I corrected with a sad smile, pulling gently on her head till it rested on my shoulder in some strange hybrid of a half hug.

“ _Dad would never hurt me; or you, for that matter. Not ever_ ”

I felt her body relax after that, tension bleeding out of her as if her only fear was what I might’ve went through. That I might’ve suffered just a smidgeon of what she had; _bless her heart._

I didn’t deserve El; her honesty and genuine enthusiasm. Being around her was like seeing the world through fresh eyes, and being as jaded as I was; that was an experience I could never underestimate.

El was an incredible little kid, and dad should buck up and see that before it’s too late.

—————————————————

The next morning I’d woken up to the sound of hammering just outside my bedroom; the dull thump of metal on wood ridiculously loud in the wood’s serene silence. Seems like dad had started cleaning up the mess.

_Good for him;_ **_I heard cleaning builds character._ **

I forced myself out of bed and began to get dressed, eager to get to school, because as much as I hated having to listen to rumours there; at least I could drop kick someone if they really pissed me off.

Here, I’d have no hope; tensions already high enough without the threat of physical violence rearing it’s head.

I was still pissed at dad; more for Eleven’s sake than my own.

_Yes; she’d acted recklessly and put herself in danger, and that was childish,_ ** _but guess what? She was a child_** , and I’d forgive her a multitude of sins for that very reason, and the fact that beneath it all, she was a pretty good kid; if not a little messed up.

But so was I; I guess that’s why we related so well.

_Dad, on the other hand, had been completely out of line._

He’d berated and belittled her at every opportunity, before downright threatening her with what was virtually abandonment; and I couldn’t condone that, not after the bullshit she’d already been through at the hands of so called responsible adults.

He knew what he’d said had been wrong, but I wasn’t gonna be the one to spell it out for him; he was old enough to do that for himself.

So when I left my room, I didn’t say a word to him, making a beeline straight for my keys on the kitchen counter.

“ ** _Well; lookie who it is_** _, if it isn’t the caped crusader emerging from her cave.._.” Dad drawled; no trace of affection in the dry nickname.

“ _Had fun gossiping with Robin; Batman_?” He asked sardonically, but I wasn’t about to sink to his level.

Instead, I just shoved on my leather jacket, ignoring how he stared at me expectingly, as if that question deserved an answer.

“ _The silent treatment; huh?_ ” He continued, following me as I stalked across the room to find my backpack.

“ _Well_ ** _good_** _for you for setting a_ ** _great_** _example for the kid. I bet that attitude goes down_ ** _real fucking peachy_** _with the kids at school..._ ” He continued to gripe, **_but that was it._**

**_That was the last straw, and I wasn’t about to shut up and take it whilst he dragged me through the mud like a fucking martyr._ **

I marched up to him; eyes burning with a subtle fury as I stared him down, not a hint of submission in my posture.

“ _You know what; I_ ** _did_** _talk to the kid last night, and_ ** _yes_** _; it was about you,_ ** _but only because I was trying to convince her that you weren’t a total dick_.”** I spat; not even flinching at the sprinkling of expletives finding their way into my speech.

“ _But apparently I’d been wrong and stupid, and I know;_ ** _‘we are not stupid_**.” I finished, throwing his words into his face, before storming out of the cabin.

“ _Lola; wait...”_ He called out; regret already colouring his voice, _but you know what; fuck him._

He was the one so set on the fact that actions had consequences, so now he could fucking drown in them for all I cared.


	17. Chapter Seventeen - Heavy Metal

Weekends were actually good for me, and not because of the stereotypical teenage bullshit of parties and shopping, but because they were the two days I could _actually_ work.

It’s not that I didn’t like school or home; they were pretty bearable most of the time.

It was just sometimes it felt like work was the only place people took me seriously. 

Sure; you still had customers who were total dicks. Thought that the only reason a pretty girl could work there was for eye candy and blatantly refused to talk to me; insisting they wanted to speak to a mechanic of “ _experience_ ”.

Still; it was better than some of the other pricks who just took me working on their car as an excuse to ogle me.

I mean; _Jesus, some of these guys were older than my dad and really should know better than perving on underage girls;_ ** _especially ones related to police officers._**

As a general rule though; most of the customers were okay, choosing to yell at me over the price of an oil change, rather than my whether my “ _womanly hands_ ” were capable of using a lug wrench.

My boss; Charlie, was a lanky tattooed mech in his late forties. He was an old friend of my dad’s from his army days; worked as an engineer out in Nam, and didn’t have any sons, so when my dad brought me into the shop saying I was looking for a job doing something other than stacking shelves, he didn’t bat an eyelid.

Just handed me a torque and asked me how I felt about tightening wheel nuts. I said I didn’t know much about nuts; _didn’t have any_ , but I’d be willing to try.

We’d hit it off after that, and Charlie had been my boss for the past two years, teaching me everything from how to change a tire, to how to strip out an engine in its entirety.

If any of the boys gave me crap; they didn’t last long. Charlie had no time for sexism, stating he didn’t put three daughters through tech college, for some prick with a screwdriver to tell them they couldn’t build aeroplanes because they had vaginas.

——————————————————

Marty’s pickup was a real bitch of a job; the clutch had gone, and I’m pretty sure he’d totalled the break pads getting it over here, but the man was practically married to the machine, so anything short of a head on collision wouldn’t get him to give her up.

Charlie had set me on her; stating it was a challenge to see if I was finally capable of wielding the big guns, which in this case was full on rebuilds from the scrapyard.

I usually just stuck with bikes; the anatomy already familiar to me, and there was much less acrobatics involved in reaching a bike engine than a car’s.

But Charlie said it was a right of passage, and Johnny had bet me fifty bucks I couldn’t fix the thing before the week was out and I’d already spotted a new pair of motorcycle boots that had my name on them.

So here I was, practically bent double into the hood of Marty’s Chevy, straining my arms because _of course_ ; I couldn’t quite reach the flywheel.

Johnny had offered to help, snickering the entire time, because at a generous 6’7”, he had no worries about the reach of his arms.

Still; I’d refused point blank, because as frustrating as being short was, having him lord it over my head all the while was worse.

_I almost had it; the first nut almost in reach of my wrench_ , when Charlie’s voice rang out through the workshop.

“ _Lola_...” He called out, and I could hear the fall of his steel toed boots against the concrete.

Still; I didn’t surface quite yet, because **_goddamnit_** _; that nut was almost in my reach, and_ ** _I’d be screwed before I left it;_** _no pun intended._

“ _Lola_...” He called again; now right next to the cab, and _fuck it; I wasn’t going to reach that flywheel without growing at least another inch._

“ ** _What?_**!” I spat, emerging from under the hood like a demon summoned, and I guess a pint sized pissed off woman with a pipe wrench wasn’t a poor comparison.

“ _There’s a guy out here looking for you..._ ” He explained, not at all fazed by the oversized hunk of metal in my hand as I attempted to clean the grease off my face with a greasy rag.

“ _Steve_?” I asked; overly familiar with the preppy pretty boy turning up unannounced to pester me, _usually coinciding with when his car needed a service; the tight assed prick._

“ _Not this one._ ” Charlie shook his head, already well versed in chasing Steve off with a tire iron, though usually the threat of hard labour was more than enough to frighten the boy off from looking for free maintenance.

I perched my wrench on the edge of the chassis, thoroughly confused over who the fuck would be visiting me in work hours, other than the esteemed Steve Harrington.

I followed Charlie back through to front of house, wiping layers of grease off on the rag, because fuck; if engine maintenance wasn’t messy.

Johnny had already started on the Mustang Charlie got in from Kentucky last week; _lucky shit_ , elbows deep in engine oil as he flushed the system clean.

_Johnny was a dick_ , but he was a pretty decent mechanic, _though I’d sooner bite off my tongue than tell him that_.

I tore my eyes away from the midnight blue machine, gazing out onto the mysterious visage of my visitor.

“ _Recognise him?_ ” Charlie asked, arms crossed over his chest; though if my facial expression was what I thought it was, he already knew the answer.

“ ** _Oh; I know him alright._** ” I replied; my eyes staring at the primped up posture of Billy Hargrove, leaning prettily against his Camaro, smoking a cigarette.

_“Do you want me to call the cops_?” Charlie asked, picking up off my mood and clearly deciding my dad might be needed for it.

“ _Nah; I got this one..._ ” I reassured him, tucking my oiled up rag into his overalls like a knightly token.

——————————————————

Billy had some fucking nerve showing up unannounced at my place of work. I know he thought the world revolved around chasing pussy and looking pretty, **but some of us had actual work to do!**

He didn’t even look guilty, perched against his car smoking, like he was on some fucking poster for cheap cigarettes.

“ ** _What the hell are you doing here?_** ” I barked, wasting no time in marching out of the auto shop straight towards him.

“ _I wanted to talk to you; you wouldn’t speak to me at school, so._..” He explained as if it was the most normal thing in the world, dropping his cigarette to the floor and putting it out with his boot.

“ _Well;_ ** _that’s_** _fucking funny..._ ” I grinned, but there was no warmth to my smile; just pure venom.

“ ** _I’m working, jackass._** ” I deadpanned, already tired of this fucking conversation.

I span around, already heading back to the shop, because I knew Charlie would hit Billy over the head with a tire iron before he let him bring this inside.

_“I know that, but I only need a minute..._ ” He countered, reaching out to pull on my wrist as if I was a dog on a leash.

“ ** _Let fucking go._** ” I spat, turning to glare at him; steel in my words.

He loosened his grip, but didn’t let go, keeping a soft hold on my wrist like a lover.

_“C’mon Lola; please...”_ He petitioned; blue eyes suddenly soft, and I was starting to wonder if he was sincere. “ _I only need a minute...”_

I stared at him, taking in his hunched posture and softened facial expression.

This wasn’t the Billy I was used to, brimming with arrogance and overconfidence.

_He seemed..._ **_humbler_ ** _._

There was a tension in his shoulders, but not one that spoke of aggression; more like he was genuinely bothered that I was mad at him.

_Of course; Billy had tricked me before._

He was a master at manipulation; his dirty tricks going far beyond easy smiles and charm, though he rarely needed anything else.

He’d demonstrated that at the party, using a combination of genuine sympathy and subtle flirting to make me think he wasn’t the complete asshole I now knew he was.

_Still; there was no one here to impress._

_No Carol or Tommy H to tantalise with tails of conquest._

Against my better judgment; I folded, sighing in defeat as he finally let go of my wrist; the smallest of smiles tweaking at the corners of his mouth.

_“I clock off in twenty minutes._ ** _Then_** _we can go and talk.”_ I stated, not leaving room for negotiation on the terms of our discussion.

“ ** _And I swear to God; if you try anything..,_** ” I hissed; raising my finger into his face, because I knew Billy was a _sneaky shit_ and this could all be a ruse to get in my panties.

“ ** _I know; I know._** _You’ll hang me by my entrails_.” He conceded, raising his arms in surrender; _and I was kinda impressed he came up with that threat all on his own._

I smiled back at him, because as much as I tried otherwise; I found Billy’s humour oddly refreshing.

Maybe because it was nearly as sick as my own.

Then I disappeared into Charlie’s shop, because I knew he was totting this as my break, _and if that tight fucker thought he was docking this from my pay;_ ** _I’d shove a catalytic converter up his ass._**


	18. Chapter Eighteen - Never Should've Asked For

Billy kept good on his word on waiting for me, sitting silently in his Camaro smoking cigarettes out his window and listening to Metallica tapes on his radio.

_It was actually kind of sweet_ ; the man’s newfound patience an endearing personality trait so many guys our age were lacking.

I’d finished stripping out Marty’s brake pads with minimal ribbing from Johnny; his focus too fixated on Billy to tease me about my inadequate arm length.

He’d tried teasing me about Billy, until I’d reminded him that despite him measuring near seven feet; he was a beanpole, and my so called “ _boyfriend_ ” could break both his arms like toothpicks.

**That shut him up** , and the twenty minutes of blissful silence that followed was perhaps the most peaceful moments of my short career.

Clocking out of Charlie’s at just past five thirty; the stench of gasoline and oil on me was riper than an oil tanker. I could probably use a shower, but I’d promised Billy a conversation, and I didn’t need to smell good to talk.

I pulled on my leather jacket, thankful the lingering scent of my perfume at least partially masked the scent of chemicals, then made my way out to Billy.

He sat there waiting; engine off, but keys in the ignition, ready to leave on my say so.

I opened the side door and climbed into the passenger seat, not minding too much that I’d probably leave grease stains on his seats.

“ _Sorry I’m late. Charlie said I couldn’t finish till I stripped the break pedals_.” I apologised, slamming the door shut behind me.

“ _Doesn’t matter. I’m not in a hurry.”_ Billy shrugged, turning the engine over, before starting up the car and pulling away.

——————————————————-

Twenty minutes had passed and me and Billy hadn’t said so much as a word to each other, _and I was beginning to wonder if his plan was just to drive in circles around Hawkins until I had no choice but to forgive him._

**_Thank God for radio_** ; though I had to admit the rather sexually suggestive lyrics of Black Leather did little to put my mind at ease.

I pulled out my cigarettes and sparked up, cranking open the window a crack, because even though Billy’s car stunk of smoke and he probably wouldn’t care; I could use the air.

Inhaling a breath, before holding it for a sec, then letting out a stream of smoke; I kept my eyes on my window, not wanting to check if he was watching me or not.

“ _So does this little road trip have a destination, or..._ ” I began, finally breaking the silence, because it was damn clear he had no intention to.

“ _Patience_...” Tutted Billy; a smile stretching across white teeth as he kept his eyes firmly fixed on the road.

“ _All will be revealed soon enough._ ” He teased with a far too eager smile; his stick hand leaving the shift to reach across to my bare thigh, giving it the slightest squeeze.

“ _You know; Billy, if this is some kind of trick so you can drag me off to the woods and have your way with me, you have another thing coming_.” I threatened, though I still decided to ignore his hand on my thigh; the warm weight almost reassuring against my skin.

“ _Relax sweetheart._..” He purred; blue eyes meeting mine in the rear view mirror as his fingers began massaging circles on my thigh.

“ _If I wanted to have my way with you; I would’ve jumped you in the parking lot_.” He continued to tease with a wide smile; his fingers slipping further up my thigh with _very clear intent._

I acted on instinct, bringing my still smouldering cigarette down to his hand and pressing the end into his skin.

“ ** _Shit!_** ” He hissed, whipping his hand away from thigh and shaking it in the air.

I grinned as he inspected the fresh burn; a pretty pink against his sun kissed skin.

“ ** _What the fuck was that for?_** ” He asked, looking between me and the burn as if he couldn’t quite believe I’d caused it.

“ ** _I said no hands._** ” I stated; giving him a wicked smirk, because he wasn’t the only one who could play dirty.

To my surprise; he shot me back a dry grin, hand resettling on the steering wheel.

“ _Promises, promises...”_ He muttered; one side of his grin quirking up higher than the other, before he revved the engine, kicking it up another couple of gears in a loud display of dominance.

————————————

Contrary to Billy’s little mind games in the car; he did have a destination in mind, slowing to a stop in front of a humble looking two story.

He put the car in park and turned off the engine, making it clear we’d arrived.

“ _Where are we?_ ” I asked, taking in the elongated porch and whitewash exterior, whilst Billy sparked up a cigarette.

“ _My house.”_ He stated, taking a drag of his cigarette before getting out of the car.

All my nerves suddenly jumped me at once, because **_why the hell was Billy bringing me to his house? What the fuck was his endgame here?_**

The implication didn’t seem to phase him as he casually swung his door shut, making his way towards the front of his house.

I followed suit, climbing out of the car, because no way he could just drop something like that on me, then expect me to be fine with it.

“ ** _Yeah; I can see that._** _Why are we here, Billy?”_ I asked, incredulousness clear in my voice as I refused to leave my safe space by the car.

“ _I told you I wanted us to go somewhere and talk..._ ” He explained casually, taking his keys from his jacket pocket and unlocking the door.

“ ** _So here we are._** ” He said, swinging the door open with theatrical finesse, and I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes, _because of course; he’d find this funny._

Still; he waited patiently for me on the porch, staring expectantly at me until I eventually relented, slamming closed his car door and marching over to him.

“ _Ladies first..._ ” He teased, and I could hear the smirk in his voice as I crossed the threshold, taking in the inside of his house for the first time.

“ _Nice place..._ ” I complimented as I shoved off my jacket, and I meant it; _whoever Billy’s parents were, they clearly had decent interior decorating skills._

“ ** _You serious?_** ” Billy asked incredulously as he took of his own jacket, slamming the front door with the heel of his boot.

“ _Yeah..._ “ I nodded, taking in the myriad of pastel blues, _and was that sea shells?_

“ _Very kitschy._ ”

“ _Isn’t that another word for tacky?_ ” He asked, crossing the room to toss both our shed jackets onto the couch.

“ _No; more like quirky._ ” I disagreed, letting my fingers linger on the freshly painted fireplace.

“ _I like it._ ” I admitted, watching as Billy made a beeline for what must’ve been the kitchen.

“ _Well; someone has to_.” He muttered, making his way to the fridge and opening the door to look inside.

“ _Can I get you a beer?_ ” He asked, already routing through the contents for the drink in question.

**_“I thought we were meant to be talking; not drinking?_** ” I drawled, leaning against the doorway, because although I liked Billy’s house; we were alone, and I didn’t trust him quite that much.

Billy just shrugged, beer in hand as he slammed the fridge door.

“ _Can’t we do both?_ ” He asked, making his way across the kitchen towards me, and even despite his offer; there was still only one beer in his hand.

“ _Okay then;_ ** _talk.”_** I stated, as he popped the cap off with his thumb, taking a long swig of the beer; a thin bead escaping down his chin and along his neck.

“ _Okay then..._ ” He began, pausing to catch the drop with his thumb and then sucking it into his mouth with an obscene pop; _and did he really have to be so damn provocative all the time?_

“ _I’m sorry._ ” He apologised, settling opposite me in the doorframe with his beer in hand, and _maybe he really was._

_He did look pretty cut up at the autoshop, and maybe I’d been a little harsh on him._

_“I acted like a dick and that was wrong. Is there something I can do to make forgive me?”_ He added with a sly smirk, and all my sympathies died along with his second chance.

“ ** _Wow.._**.” I almost laughed, because I honestly couldn’t believe I was beginning to feel sympathy for Billy Hargrove..

“ _You_ ** _really are_** _a dick._ ” I stated, pushing up from the doorframe and heading straight for the front door, because I’d already learned more than enough from this situation.

“ ** _Come on, Lola!_** _I apologised._ ” He whined as I made my way to the couch, already pulling on my jacket.

“ _And that suddenly makes everything_ ** _so much better_** _._ ” I clipped, staring daggers at the man who kept playing me so easily.

“ _Well; what the hell do you want me to say? I can’t control what people say about us!”_ He argued, already following me into the living room with that stupid wronged expression on his face.

I laughed dryly, because of course; he’d try to play the blame game.

_Billy Hargrove could do no wrong. Billy Hargrove was a_ **_verified angel_ ** _and I had_ **_no righ_ ** _t to toss around accusations like that._

“ _You know what; Billy. I have been dealing with rumours about my sex life long before you showed up, and I will continue to deal with them long after you’re gone._ ” I stated, pulling on my jacket, because I was leaving; **_just let him try and stop me._**

“ _If it’s not_ ** _Tina_** _and_ ** _Ally_** _claiming I’ve been_ ** _fucking Harringto_** _n since the_ ** _eighth grade_** _; it’s_ ** _Tommy_** _and_ ** _Carol_** _saying I’m a_ ** _dyke_**.” I continued to rant, untucking my hair from my jacket as I made my way to the front door.

“ _Lola; come on..._ ” Billy whined, following behind me as I attempted to leave.

“ ** _No; Billy!_** ” I yelled, spinning to face him, _because_ ** _just once_** _I’d like to finish what I was saying without him interrupting me._

“ ** _I’m fucking sick and tired of you and everybody else thinking you know me, when you really fucking don’t_**.” I drilled; my eyes boring holes into Billy’s skull and rendering him speechless for once.

I took the opportunity to try and leave, opening the latch on the door and pulling it open.

“ _Lola; please..._ ” Billy whined, reaching over my head to block the door from opening.

“ _Billy; let me go..._ ” I demanded; having had it _up to here_ with him using force to get what he wanted with me.

“ _Lola; come on..._ ” He continued to plead; his voice a soft contrast to his firm grip on the door.

“ ** _Billy; I swear to God, if you don’t let go of this door right now, I’ll.._**.” I began to threaten; patience already run out.

“ ** _You’ll what? Throw another hissy fit?_** ” He snapped; clearly having abandoned the pleading tactic in favour of something a little more solid.

“ ** _Threaten to choke me with my own entrails?_** ” He continued; and I just crossed my arms across my chest, my posture telling him exactly how effective his new approach was.

“ ** _You’re an asshole._** ” I snarled, hating this prick more than ever, because **_he really thought I wouldn’t do it; that I was all bark and no bite._**

“ _Oh; I’m the asshole?_ ** _I’m the asshole?_** ” He snorted incredulously, eyes near comically wide in indignation.

“ _I’m the one who apologised, yet I’m still the asshole; tell me how that works?_ ” He retorted; his posture turning tenser by the second.

“ ** _That wasn’t even a proper apology!_** ” I bit back; honestly in disbelief that he could make out he was the wronged party in all this.

“ ** _Oh; you want a proper apology?!_** _Well; where do I start?! Let me see..._ ” He ridiculed, stepping back so he could lean against the coffee table pondering dramatically in mock thought.

“ _Billy_...” I sighed, rubbing my forehead, because this was really getting out of control; and since when had this turned into a shouting match?

“ ** _No, no, no. I’ll give you your damn apology.”_** Billy spat, already having chosen his hill to die on and had begun building trebuchets whilst we spoke.

“ _I’m sorry everyone at school thinks I slept with you...”_ He began, sounding the furthest thing from it as he stared me down with outraged blue eyes.

“ _Billy_...” I tried to calm him, knowing that the more he spoke; the tighter he’d get wound, and I really didn’t want to be in the blast zone when he exploded.

“ _No. I’m sorry that_ ** _Carol_** _and_ ** _Tina_** _and_ ** _Tommy H_** _and_ ** _whoever the fuck else_** _are complete and total dicks..._ ” He ranted, _and I had to agree that one was true; not that I was going to say it to him mid-rant._

“ _Billy; please...”_ I petitioned once again, trying to stop this battle from turning into an all out war zone.

“ _Oh wait; I’ve got it!_ ** _I’m sorry that Steve jackass Harrington is too much of a pussy and hasn’t manned up and fucked you yet..._** _”_ He spat; venom colouring every word.

“ ** _Billy, stop._** ” I warned; he’d really gone too far this time, and I wasn’t sure I could continue to stand here whilst he dragged me backwards over hot coals.

“ ** _So please tell me, Lola,_** _because I’m not exactly sure_ ** _which one of these_** _I’m meant to be sorry f..._ ”


	19. Chapter Nineteen - Billy Says Relax

**_“So please tell me, Lola_ ** _, because I’m not exactly sure_ **_which one of these_ ** _I’m meant to be sorry f...”_

Billy never had a chance to finish that sentence; me deciding to take a page out of his book and leap before I look.

My face hurtled towards his in what was fully supposed to be a headbut, but somehow the trajectory had gotten messed up along the way, and _now I was kissing him instead._

The effectiveness was pretty much the same; Billy’s train of thought completely lost the moment my lips made contact.

He immediately tensed, arms flying up by the side of my face as if ready to defend himself before he realised what was happening.

Then he relaxed, hands settling on the back of my neck as he finally began to kiss me back, teeth nipping at my lower lip.

_It probably was a bad idea; using kisses as a deescalation technique was_ **_bound_ ** _to end badly for me in the long run,_ **_but in the moment I didn’t care_. **

**_Billy was so much more bearable when he decided to do something useful with his mouth._ **

I let my fingers bunch into the front of his shirt, enjoying how he’d kiss back with the slightest bit of pressure, because Billy couldn’t _possibly_ be the submissive one.

I pulled away first, holding back a smile on how his lips tried to chase mine; a look of disappointment crossing his face for a split second as I moved back.

“ _Where did that come from?_ ” He asked; the corners of his mouth teasing a smile as ran a contemplative finger across his lips, almost as if he was committing the kiss to memory.

_“I honestly just wanted you to shut up._ ” I admitted, trying to hide a smile behind my hand, because **_goddamnit; I was still mad at him_** _, but fuck if he wasn’t gorgeous; pupils wide and cheeks flushed like he couldn’t decide if he was angry or interested._

To my surprise, he chuckled; a low, hearty sound that forced that smile to grow, and before I knew it, I was giggling too.

“ _And how did that work out for you?_ ” He continued to tease, setting me off again, and _damnit; this was too fucking easy!_

_The only other person who managed to make light of things with me was..._

This time it was my thoughts being interrupted; Billy colliding with them and knocking them off course with another forceful kiss.

I reached up, running my fingers through his hair before latching on, because I’d like just a little control on this situation.

Billy wasn’t put off; just doubled his enthusiasm as he clasped his hands round my waist, slowly backing me into a wall.

My back hit solid wall, but Billy kept moving, pressing in close in a staunch reminder of Tina’s.

His hands slipped down over my hips, then lower to the backs of my thighs, before he lifted me up with ease.

I wrapped my legs around his waist, looking for some traction despite his hands remaining fixed on me; fingertips digging into the meat of my thighs.

Billy managed to work my leather jacket down and off my shoulders; me letting my arms go limp so it pooled on the floor in a heap.

**_This probably wasn’t a good idea_ ** _, I thought as I struggled for breath between feverish kisses, fingers pulling on curls that felt sinfully soft._

**_I probably should stop him now_ ** _; I thought as he ground against me, prominent hard on visible in his tight jeans._ **_But when did I listen to common sense anyway?!_ **

Billy pulled his lips away from mine; our collective need for air overtaking the desire to suck face, and I whimpered at the loss.

He just smiled softly, before redirecting his attention to the stretch of my neck.

“ _Billy_...” I gasped; the word turning into a whine as he bit down ever so slightly, determined to refresh the fading hickeys painting my neck.

He wasn’t particularly rough this time, balancing each sharp nick of his teeth with a soothing lap of his tongue; the sensation leaving a warm tingle in its wake.

“ _Do you wanna go to my room?_ ” He asked; the question a husky whisper in my ear, hot breath almost unbearable on my skin.

_I probably should’ve said no_. I knew exactly what that question meant, and it wasn’t an invite to further inspect the interior decorating, but I went along with it anyway, nodding eagerly whilst he peppered my throat with kisses.

With permission given, Billy wasted no time, lifting me so he supported my weight in its entirety and backing away from the wall.

_How we found our way to his room without colliding with every piece of furniture along the way was a mystery to me_. Billy barely broke kisses to take a breath, let alone look where he was going, but I guess he must’ve done this a hundred times before.

That fact alone should’ve put me off, drying my panties quicker than the Sahara in a drought, but for some reason that made me trust him more.

_Maybe because none of us where under any illusions on what the other was._

I knew Billy was a manwhore; the fact painfully obvious to anyone with a set of eyes and notice enough of what he was like around women.

It didn’t bother me; he could fuck who he liked, just as long as he was honest about it.

And Billy knew my secret, weaseled it out of me in a dark hallway on Halloween, but he didn’t judge me for it; _in fact, I’d argue that made him like me more_.

Maybe it was the thought of being my first; _misogynistic pig he was_ , but someone had to, and I guess I’d picked Billy.

**_And that was the important part._ **

**_This had been my choice_** ; a mantra I kept repeating as he plastered me against his bedroom door, refusing to break our kiss to even look for the doorknob, relying purely on muscle memory.

It seemed his muscle memory wasn’t half bad; me nearly falling backwards on my ass as the door swung open with our combined weight.

Lucky for me, Billy was a good catch, grabbing onto my asscheeks and hoisting me back up so he could carry me to the bed.

When he dropped me on the comforter; I half expected him to start stripping me then and there, but to my surprise he didn’t.

Instead he crouched down in front of me; bright blue eyes hypnotic as they stared into my own.

“ _Do you want me to put on music, or something?_ ” He asked, hands settled just above the splay of my hips, and I had to laugh and wonder how much of Billy’s sex education was from crappy porn videos?

“ _Nah. I think I’ll be fine without._ ” I smiled, prompting another hundred watt grin from him that took my breath away.

He leaned in, kissing me again and began unbuttoning his shirt.

I reached in to help; my fingers clumsy without the guidance of sight. It didn’t matter anyway; between the two of us we reached the bottom, Billy ripping it off and throwing it to the floor.

I took the opportunity to touch him properly for the first time; fingers hesitantly trailing across warm skin stretched over hard muscle.

Billy didn’t give much time for my hands to wander, pulling away abruptly and making his way over to the door.

“ _Almost forgot..._ ” He muttered, flinging the door shut, before proceeding to fasten the latch.

**_My stomach dropped because reality finally dawned upon me._ **

_There was no going back now. Before it had just been making out and some heavy petting, but the moment Billy locked that door; well, that was commitment._

He turned back to me and smiled, and my doubts began to dissipate. _How could someone so fucking dangerous look so damn innocent?_

Then he began pulling off his boots, and I did the same, very aware that I was probably leaving grease stains on his comforter.

Loop by loop I pulled them loose; actually thankful that my footwear of choice was motorcycle boots, because that gave me time to think about things.

_This was_ **_actually happenin_ ** _g, and_ **_maybe I was a bit scared_ ** _. I was allowed that;_ **_right?_ **

The laces seemed to get tangled in my fingers; hands loosing all dexterity, _and was I shaking?_

**_Fucking nerves fucking fucking things up..._ **

A set of hands reached in, pulling the last couple of loops free, and I realised Billy was helping me.

It was strangely sweet, giving off odd Cinderella vibes; and though I knew he probably just wanted to hurry me up and get me naked already, I still appreciated the gesture.

“ _Relax; it’s not that big of a deal._ ” Billy encouraged me, pulling the boots off my feet one foot at a time, and I wondered how much of that was about the shoes.

He clearly knew I was nervous, but he wasn’t making a thing of it; probably knew it would scare me off.

It got me thinking about how many girls he might’ve done this for before.

He was a man of experience; that I already knew, but I’d always imagined him with girls like Ally and Tina; fast and loose.

It hadn’t occurred to me that maybe Billy had popped quite a few cherries in his time.

“ ** _You still with me?_** ” Billy asked; voice breaking through my thoughts as he sat on the bed beside me, reaching across to run his hand through my hair.

“ _Yeah. Just got distracted for a minute..._ ” I replied, glancing away to avoid meeting those piercing blue eyes.

“ _Well, lets see if I can get your attention again...”_ He purred, leaning in to kiss me once more.

It started soft; teasing playful pecks with just a little bit of teeth, but quickly turned aggressive; Billy attempting to press me down into the mattress beneath him.

His fingers started pulling at the bottom of my shirt, lifting the fabric upwards.

“ ** _Billy; stop!_** ” I yelped, gently pushing him away, _because who was I kidding? I was nervous as fuck and I’m not sure I could do this his way._

To my surprise; Billy backed down, moving away till he was sat next to me again, blue eyes blissfully patient.

“ _Shhh, shhh, shhh..._ ” He coed, reaching out to rub comforting circles on my knee, and _normally I would slap him for being so condescending,_ but today I was thankful for it.

“ _Relax. We can take this slow; no need to rush. You can even get on top if you want._ ” Billy suggested; surprising me really, because I knew how much he liked to be in charge.

I took a moment to steady my nerves, taking deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Billy remained remarkably patient, holding my hand reassuringly as I staved off a panic attack.

I probably should’ve felt embarrassed about how vulnerable I was being with him, but at the moment, I was thankful for his sympathy.

Then, once I was calm, I made the decision to continue; because I’d sooner be called a lush than a coward, and a Hopper always faced their fears head on.

I straddled Billy’s lap uncertainly, automatically feeling more relaxed at the change of arrangement, like I actually had some control over the situation.

He smiled up at me, hands settling on my waist whilst mine settled on his shoulders; the position strangely natural.

“ _Feeling better?”_ He asked; his fingertips tracing small patterns on the skin of my back where my top rode up.

“ _Yeah. Much better._ ” I nodded, nervously shifting my weight from one knee to the other, cautious not to brush up against anything unexpected.

“ _Good..._ ” Billy smiled, eyes momentarily dipping down to where my top dipped below my collarbones. “ _You wanna continue?”_

I nodded, reassured by the near traffic light system Billy was utilising.

He tilted his head up, capturing my lips in a featherlight kiss which I retaliated

Once it was clear that none of this was under duress, Billy reached a hand up to the back of my head, tangling his fingers in the hair at the base of my neck. He didn’t pull, at least, not hard; just used it to steer me a little bit.

His hands started to wander up my back again, reaching beneath my shirt as his fingers skimmed the gaps in my ribcage.

He grabbed onto my shirt again, pulling it up just below my breasts, before breaking our kiss to speak.

“ _Is this okay?_ ” He asked, still concerned in getting my permission, and it made my insides melt.

I nodded vigorously, not trusting myself with words, before taking the shirt from his grip and pulling it over my head.

I tossed it on the floor and Billy wasted no time before he started kissing me harder than before, hips rocking into my own so I could feel how hard he’d gotten.

He reached up and skimmed his thumbs over my bra, fabric momentarily catching on my nipples, making me gasp at the sharp sensation.

He chuckled mid kiss; clearly enjoying how sensitive I was, before letting his hands slide behind me, following the width of my bra strap.

With the gift of experienced hands, he soon found the clasp and had it undone in seconds; my bra now hanging uselessly between us.

“ _Somebody’s done this before..._ ” I teased, knowing very well that Billy Hargrove probably knew bras better than I did.

“ _Never said I hadn’t..._ ” he murmured against my mouth, before practically ripping the bra from my chest and throwing it away from him.

Billy’s mouth was becoming adventurous again, abandoning my own to trail down my neck, leaving scorching kisses periodically along the way.

His hands were cupping my tits, pushing them together as if to get more of them; and for the first time in my life, I wished they were bigger.

Then Billy’s head dipped lower, stopping momentarily to scrape his teeth across my collarbone, before taking his crusade lower; covering them in a series of opened mouth kisses.

“ _Billy_...” I gasped as his mouth latched onto a nipple, sucking on it and worrying it with his teeth in a way that made heat rush straight to my core.

I grinded down into him, chasing the friction of his bulge against my clothed heat.

Billy responded, bucking up against me and I could honestly tell all this waiting was killing him.

“ ** _Billy_**...” I sighed, halfheartedly attempting to push his head away, though my fingers just ended up running through his hair instead. “ ** _Billy; you can stop now._** ”

He let go off my nipple with a wet pop; his head rising up to eye level, a look concern on his face.

“ ** _You alright?_** ” He asked, hands moving from my chest to cup my face, thumbs running careful trails over my cheeks.

“ _Yeah; I just thought you might want to..._ ” I began, trying to keep eye contact with those intense eyes, despite the growing blush spreading across my face.

He smiled widely at that; his eyes a touch feral as he worked out exactly what I meant.

“ _Sure thing; sweetheart. Whatever you want._ ” He purred, sliding his hands back down to my waist so he could manoeuvre me off his lap, slowly changing our positions till I was under him again.

He pushed gently on my shoulder, forcing me back until I was lying on his bed looking up at him, then he bent down and kissed me; the angle giving him full control over the pressure and length.

I let his tongue slide into my mouth, enjoying his distinctive taste of Marlboros and spearmint as I finally let my hands wander, reaching down to follow the sharp incline of his shoulder blades.

He was warm, and well muscled all over, and my mind went back to the weights I’d seen in the living room and I wandered how many hours he spent using them every day.

The image of Billy pumping iron, skin slightly shiny with sweat stoked a fire in me that began the moment I kissed him in the hallway.

Billy was moaning; a sound so different from the growling at Tina’s, even though they had the same cadence.

Maybe it wasbecause it was real this time, and not a performance with the intent purpose of getting me off.

I responded, sighing softly into his mouth on the tail of every kiss, fingers digging into the meat of his shoulder blades hard enough to leave scratches.

In this new position; I became very aware of _how much bigger_ Billy was compared to me; my tiny five foot body overshadowed completely by his heavily muscled form.

I was new to this, and wasn’t quite sure if it was supposed to hurt or not, but the size difference made me hyper aware of how easily Billy could hurt me; even by accident.

I chased away the thought by kissing him harder, pulling on tangled curls till it felt like I’d regained control.

Billy growled slightly, snapping his teeth near my bottom lip; clearly not expecting me to be rough back.

I stiffened; the expression reminding me distinctly of the face he pulled when he had Steve against the wall.

Then he smiled, and all was forgotten; and I was beginning to wonder how Billy was able to play with my emotions so easily.

He broke the kiss, restarting his crusade to uncharted territories, kissing his way down my neck and across my collarbones.

Eventually he reached my chest, but to my surprise he didn’t linger there; pressing one firm kiss between the valley of my breasts before moving on.

Slowly, he trekked over my stomach, fingertips skimming my sides, leaving trails of fire in their wake.

He kissed with the smallest amount of teeth; a subtle guarantee that I’d be decorated with bruises tomorrow.

Every muscle of my stomach was traced with his tongue; skin prickling with goosebumps under the combination of his hot breath and the cool fall air.

He got to the tops of my shorts, and I bit back a whimper; _though out of fear or arousal, I don’t know._

Billy rested his hands at the waistband, letting his fingers dip just below, gripping onto the denim loosely.

He glanced up at me; eyes sinfully sharp and bright, and let out a dark chuckle; pretty smile stretching across his face.

I bit my lip, shifting slightly in a strange sense of anticipation.

He undid the top two buttons, eyes quickly glancing between them and my face as if to watch for my reaction.

_He wouldn’t get one; or at least the one of nervousness he was clearly watching out for._

Instead I just watched with eager eyes, propping myself up on my elbows to get a better view.

Billy gave me a feral grin, before digging his fingers into my shorts and panties, pulling them both down in one smooth sweep.

They caught on my knees momentarily, before slipping down my calves, and I kicked my legs slightly so they fell off onto the floor.

When I looked up at Billy; his eyes were fixed on my crotch, and I fought the urge to cross my legs; already way to far along with this to be having second thoughts.

Then he did something strange.

He got on his knees, dropping onto one at a time; his eyes never leaving the apex of my thighs.

I tried to sit up more to see what he was planning to do, but his forearm pressed down across my hips, locking my body to the bed whether I wanted it to be or not.

His hands slid to my hips again, thumbs circling my hip bones before moving lower, travelling down the length of my thighs till he reached about midway.

His thumbs gently pressed on the insides of my thighs, and I suddenly realised he was trying to spread them apart.

_I don’t know why, but I started to panic; my legs straining against him as I tried to keep them closed._

Billy didn’t get frustrated or impatient. He just softened his grip, rubbing even more circles on my sensitive skin.

“ _Shh. Relax..._ ” He coed; his touch both the cause of my tension, and the only thing that seemed to alleviate it.

“ _I’m gonna be gentle.”_ He promised, pressing against my thighs again and I let them fall open, baring myself to him completely.

_There was a tense moment of silence and relative stillness; me lying below him expectingly, waiting for Billy to do something; him hovering inches above my crotch, eyes drinking me in as if memorising every last dip and crevice._

“ ** _God; you’re beautiful._** ” He muttered, and I was about to make a joke if he said that to every girl’s crotch, when he stole the thoughts from my head.

He let out a tentative breath of air; the sensation strangely cold against my bare lips, and I felt my whole body shudder in response.

One of Billy’s hands slipped up to the apex of my thighs, not touching but spreading, opening me out so he could see more.

I settled up on my elbows, eyebrows furrowed, because I really wasn’t sure what exact game he was playing at.

“ ** _Billy; what are you doing_**?”


	20. Chapter Twenty - Not Much Of An Apology...

“ ** _Billy; what are you doing?_** ” I asked, watching as his eyes traced the outline of my opening; the whole display making me feel very self conscious.

“ _Working on my apology._ ” He said matter-of-factly, as if he wasn’t hovering centimetres away from my pussy with hungry eyes.

_“I don’t normally do this for girls, so you gotta forgive me if I’m a little rusty_.” He said, and part of me didn’t know whether to smile or be even more nervous.

Then he stole my better sense for what must’ve been the fifth time that day, tongue darting out and swiping up my seam with none of the hesitancy his words suggested.

I let out a noise somewhere between a mewl and a shriek; a sound that would’ve been mortifying if Billy’s head had been anywhere but buried between my legs.

He just chucked, amused at the reaction he’d already managed to coax out of me with just a little swipe of his tongue.

**_Then he did it again,_** experimenting with a more insistent amount of pressure that seemed to split through my folds, forcing my hips to buck up off the bed.

“ _Shh, shh. Relax..._ ” He coaxed, his nose still pressed to the top of my folds as his hand reached up to press on the bottom of my stomach again, forcing me to relax against the comforter again.

He dove forward again, mimicking what could’ve been a French kiss in the most sensitive of places; tongue curling up so it just brushed against that little bundle of nerves that had my toes curling.

“ ** _Oh, God...”_** I gasped as he did it again, starting to trace out letters with his tongue, spelling out sweet nothings even I couldn’t hear.

“ _Nope; just me..._ ” He teased, _and I really should’ve slapped him,_ ** _because was now really the time for jokes!_**

He must’ve sensed my disapproval, because he took the opportunity to explore further; tongue dipping through folds and then curling, and—

“ ** _Billy!”_** I cried as his tongue curled up and pressed hard at some place far deeper inside of me than I thought it could reach, stroking repeatedly against my insides.

“ _Got it in one, sweetheart.._.” He smirked, and **_really;_** _there was something much more important he should’ve been doing with that mouth_ , but when he smiled at me like that; chin slightly glistening with something I didn’t want to dwell on, I honestly could forgive him.

He kept up his ministrations; every now and then pausing between licks and sucks to see how I responded.

Needless to say, **_I responded very well;_** gasping and whimpering as he dragged my body slowly to the precipice of pleasure.

He was particularly nippy down there; a sensation I’d originally thought would be unpleasant, but when he raked his teeth just right over my clitoris, _I swear I could’ve died._

His favourite thing to do was wiggle his tongue inside of me; the motion striking me with memories of when we first met, and that subtle oral fixation he had that left him licking his lips at me.

**_I’d never see it the same again;_ ** _especially not after that same tongue had been lapping at my most intimate parts._

Speaking of intimate; I was almost there at the height of the most intimate of moments, my eyes clamped shut as I silently prayed to whatever God was above for release.

But as I’d been reminded, **_God wasn’t in charge here_** , _and Billy seemed to have very different opinions on how and when I’d finish._

He pulled his mouth away abruptly, leaving me hanging in that no mans land between absolute pleasure and pure frustration.

“ _Are you...”_ I began to ask; already impatient, because when his mouth was on me, I couldn’t think; and now without it,they were coming back with so many reservations I could do without.

“ _Oh; you want me to finish?_ ” He teased playfully; feigning innocence despite his face beingframed by my thighs.

I bit down on my lip, blush spreading through my cheeks at just the thought of what I wanted to ask him to do.

“ _Come on; sweetheart. I’m not gonna be able_ _to do what you want if you don’t ask me.._.” He taunted; that mock sweetness dripping from his voice only succeeding in making me more frustrated.

“ ** _Billy...”_** I whined, shifting on the comforter as I tried and failed to convince him to take pity on me and finish what he’d started.

“ ** _Ah, ah, ah...”_** He rebuked, refusing to give me any relief until I met his demands.

“ _If you want something you’re going to have to ask me nicely..._ ” He continued to tease, pausing to blow tantalisingly over my pussy, just in case I wasn’t wound up enough.

“ ** _Come on, Billy. Please...”_** I asked; not quite believing he had me begging already.

“ _That’s good, but I think you can do better...”_ He grinned, settling comfortably on his elbows, just in case it wasn’t clear he’d leave me like this all day if he had to.

I huffed, blowing a piece of fringe that had somehow stuck to my face in the heat of things.

_There was no way I was doing this; no way I’d actually beg._

But then I looked down at him, taking in that sadistic smirk, **_because godammnit; he actually meant it._**

_The prick wouldn’t do anything until I begged for it._

“ _Billy; please...”_ I began to plead, putting my pride aside, because _goddamnit; he already had me on my back and panting, so where was the shame in losing the rest of my dignity._

“ _I’m so desperate and I want you so bad. Please finish me off._ ” I begged, refraining from putting on a stupid pornstar voice, because Billy was a petty shit and probably would leave me hanging for it.

For a moment; I thought he was gonna call me out and leave me here; spread eagle and unsated above the covers of his bed.

It would probably serve me right for being so damn difficult, rather than just spreading my legs wide and letting him get on with it.

“ ** _Billy; pleas—_** “ I began to whine, but he cut me of; mouth latching on to my clit and sucking until I thought I was gonna explode.

His tongue flicked over the nub, and my hips bucked hard, chasing after him every time he’d pull away.

I could honestly feel my heartbeat between my legs; a heavy constant pulse that only seemed to grow more prominent with every lick.

**_I was so fucking clos_** e, and I really must’ve looked a mess; mewling and keening whilst I attempted to ride Billy’s tongue, tears stinging at the corners of my eyes.

“ ** _Ahhh; ahhh..,,_** ” I began to gasp, feeling my end drawing near as my hips tightened; my body arching up off the bed.

**Then it stopped.**


	21. Chapter Twenty One - Stop If You Wanna Get Off

“ ** _Billy; what the fuck?!_** ” I squawked; the sound strangled and undignified as my eyes flew open, staring down at where his mouth had been moments ago.

_I had_ ** _nearly_** _been there; my legs practically shaking as his tongue dragged me over to infinity, when he’d suddenly changed his mind_.

I could still feel the buzz now between my legs, like a vibrator on its lowest setting; pleasant enough to leave all my nerves on edge, but not enough to send them over.

“ ** _You can’t just do that! You can’t just—_** “ I began to stutter; nerves frazzled and body tense and aching for attention. I couldn’t even think straight; my hormones making me want to cry from pure need.

“ ** _I can’t what?_** ” Billy asked; his voice a low drawl that made me want to hit him.

“ ** _Wind you up and just leave you wanting_** _?_ ” He continued, and I tried not to draw parallels with Tina’s party.

**_Was this his plan all along?_ ** _Tease me to the point of no return, then ask me to put my clothes on and leave in some sort of sick payback for Halloween?_

I considered my options; not above downright begging at this point, though I could always just stick my hands down there and finish the job myself just to spite him.

“ _Oh; sweetheart. You look like you’re about to cry..._ ” Billy coed; sounding almost cruel as he casually stared down at me, propped up on one elbow with his eyes fixed on my face.

He was right. There were actual tears beginning to escape down my cheeks, _and I was so angry, but I couldn’t help it_. _I was just so damn ready and he just..._

My mind stopped, catching sight of an entirely new placement of Billy’s hands as he slowly unclasped his belt, pulling it clean from his trousers and dropping it to the floor.

My eyes fixed on where his abs met his waistband; a happy trail of blonde hair just a few shades darker than his head dipping beneath.

Billy knew he had my attention; blue eyes darting up to meet me as he gave me the most sinful smirk, running his thumb over his waistband before popping his button and hooking them beneath.

“ _You gonna be a good girl for me?_ ” He asked, really taking advantage of the leverage he had over me.

I nodded my head vigorously, managing to let out a “ ** _uh huh_** ”, _even though the sound was so damn eager, I could hardly believe it came from my mouth._

Then he began to lower his jeans, dragging tight denim over tanned skin; and _what do you know; Billy went commando and_ ** _he really was sun kissed everywhere._**

My eyes followed the trail of hair down the prominent V of his hips; hair gradually getting darker and thicker until I was very aware that the girls at school had been _very accurate_ in their descriptions of Billy’s anatomy.

Part of me had wished they were exaggerating, and I could rock up to school on Monday making jokes on how Billy was compensating for his tiny cock.

However; all hopes of that were dashed the moment his jeans reached his well muscled thighs.

**_Billy was impressive everywhere_** , and that was intimidating considering I’d already had my reservations about size difference with his clothes on.

My eyes rose from Billy’s crotch to his face, where a very knowing smirk had taken root there; the man very aware of his effect on women.

“ _Don’t worry; it’ll fit_.” He said; answering the question I’d been hesitant to ask; _though did he really have to sound so cocky about it?_

**_And shit; that was a pun_ ** _, but that was the least of my worries as Billy climbed up the bed towards me; cock hard and ready in hand._

I tried to keep my eyes on his face; _I really did_ , but somehow that made things worse, a blush exploding across my cheeks the moment he looked at me with those lust blown eyes.

“ _You know; you don’t have to be so nervous_.” He murmured; hand reaching up to brush across my cheek, and I tried not to think about what that hand had been wrapped around moments before.

“ _It won’t hurt; I know what I’m doing_.” He reassured me, and despite me knowing that that was true, it still didn’t put my nerves to bed.

_Maybe it was because of the whiplash I was getting from him constantly changing personalities._

_How Billy could go from saying something sexy and sultry one minute, to being sweet the next, was honestly jarring._

I knew his aim was to make this easier for me, but sometimes I wished he’d just get it over with, **_because the suspense was nearly killing me_** ; _though that could just have been my missed orgasm_.

Billy reached down to my thigh, lifting it and tucking it high against his back, making sure I was spread as wide as possible for him.

I avoided the urge to look down; already feeling the warm press of his length against my lower stomach; a heavy reminder of what was going to happen.

He started to move slowly; his hand lining himself up as he rubbed his head between my lips, every now and then nudging against my clit, _just in case I wasn’t tense enough._

I dared a glance down, watching as his cockhead parted my folds, gradually begining to move forward.

“ _Shouldn’t you have..._ ” I stopped him, because although I was new to the whole sex thing, I’d been to science class and was pretty sure he should be using protection.

“ _It’ll be a bit tight, but it’ll feel better that way.”_ Billy replied; clearly mistaking my hesitation for the fact he hadn’t stretched me out in the slightest; **_which now I think about it, was a pretty solid complaint._**

“ _I was talking about condoms_.” I corrected him, tensing slightly because Billy still didn’t retreat and continued to very slowly press onwards, even after I’d expressed my discomfort.

“ _It feels better without them and I’m clean anyway..._ ” He began to make excuses, and I rolled my eyes, _because how many times were we told in sex ed, that when a guy said that it was a_ ** _load of bull._**

“ _Thanks for the info, but it wasn’t you I was thinking about..._ ” I drawled, because although Billy was a slut and I’d have every right to worry about diseases; there was a much bigger risk he seemed to be ignoring, one that concerned the fact that **_I didn’t want to be a mom at seventeen._**

“ _I can pull out fast, but if you’re really worried, I can stop and go to the store...”_ He continued with his BS; and although I knew it was probably a lie and he probably had a whole draw of condoms in his nightstand, I let him away with it anyway.

“ _No. Just.... keep going.”_ I muttered; my face flustered and hot, whilst my body was very aware of an insistent pressure between my thighs, trying to gain entry.

**_It wasn’t the smart move; not really_ ** _. I was taking a lot of unnecessary risks, but I’d taken a risk in even being here, so today was looking to be one of those leap before you look kinda days._

Billy just smiled down at me, clearly pleased that he’d gotten his way despite it being about as believable as leprechauns.

I tried to smile back, but was hard as he finally began to breach me; the sensation sharp and almost tearing between my legs.

I shifted slightly beneath him, trying to ease the discomfort as I felt the head pop in; the stretch almost too much to bear.

“ _Shhh, shhh, shhh. Relax sweetheart..._ ” Billy cooed; one hand trailing up and down my spine in what was meant to be soothing motions, but only succeeded in making me more tense.

“ _It’ll only feel bad for a minute; I promise_.” He reassured me, but at this point I didn’t believe him, **_because he said it wouldn’t hurt_** _, but goddamnit; he was only in at the tip and I already wanted him to stop._

Billy didn’t give me long to change my mind, already beginning to press into me, and I swear it felt like he’d never end; like he’d continue scewering me forever.

“ ** _Oh God; sweetheart._** _You’re doing so good; already taking me so well like a good girl.”_ He murmured into my neck, pressing open mouthed kisses in an attempt to sooth my discomfort.

I let out a sharp gasp; tears starting to fall, because Billy Hargrove was a liar and it honestly felt like something was ripping down there.

**_Was it really meant to feel that full?_** _I mean; Billy was experienced, but he could still make mistakes and he really seemed like he was in too much of a rush to get inside of me._

**_Was oral really enough preparation for this; all things considered?_** _I know it felt good; my body nearly screaming for relief when he’d used his mouth on me, but it didn’t really stretch anything_.

He probably should’ve used his fingers again, but it was a little late for that now he was already halfway in and rapidly pushing to get further.

**And I was right; he was already half way in** , me too preoccupied in my worrying to have noticed him making serious ground.

Billy was moaning into the crook of my neck, clearly getting a lot of pleasure from just being inside me.

The blissful sighs that brushed across my skin were almost worth the pain, _and I could actually begin to feel things getting easier just from that knowledge alone._

He was slipping in further now, _and I do mean slipping;_ my body’s natural instincts finally getting out of panic mode and realising **_no; I wasn’t under attack_** _and_ ** _yes; maybe I actually wanted this_** _beneath all those first time jitters and novel apprehension._

“ ** _Fuck; sweetheart. You’re so damn tight..._** ” He groaned, and I guess that was a compliment, because although that meant more pain for me, it was a cause of pleasure for him.

_But now that I thought about; it wasn’t starting to feel so bad_ , the outright sting I’d felt before dimming down to minor discomfort, _and maybe I could see how you’d enjoy this in the same way some people’s wires get crossed; mistaking pain for pleasure._

Billy was a bit much for my first try, and although I could tell he was really trying his best to be patient; I probably should’ve been a bit more assertive.

Still; I’d forgive him for it, especially when he let out a particularly drawn out groan, his lips stopping to place gentle kisses along my throat; wordless praises being murmured into the crook of my neck.

I could tell he was almost all the way in now; his body nearly pressed against mine, so I closed my eyes and willed myself to relax.

_It was almost over, and then_ **_maybe, just maybe_ ** _I’d begin feeling as good as I did at Tina’s._

“ _I’m almost there, baby. You’re doing so good_.” Billy praised breathlessly, and it just occurred to me it had taken us the best of ten minutes just to get this far.

Billy really was holding back; more used to just diving straight in and fucking girls into oblivion, _I must’ve really meant something for him to be so gentle._

I reached up behind him, letting my hands roam over the muscles of his back and up and over his shoulders.

I could actually feel the tension in them; body practically shaking, because somehow Billy was feeling this as intensely as I was.

My hand ran up the back of his neck, momentarily getting caught in tangled curls, before cupping the side of his face in what I guess was my way of telling him it’s okay; **that I was okay.**

Billy groaned again and I bit my lip trying to hold back a cry; _I didn’t want him to know that he was hurting me, didn’t want him to think he had to stop after he’d been so damn good to me._

He kept pushing and pushing, and I could feel my body quaking; he probably could too, and I’m not sure I could keep this up for much longer.

I could taste blood, and I’m pretty sure I’d just bitten my lip, but I didn’t stop; not when we were almost there.

And then he bottomed out.

I let out a sigh of relief, and I could feel Billy smiling against my skin; something so sweet and intimate, and I began to wonder if this was really just sex for him, or something more.

Billy lifted his head from my shoulder, raising it so he could look me in the eye; that same blissful smile on his face.

“ _You feeling okay?_ ” He asked softly, reaching up a hand to stroke my cheek; his thumbs wiping away a few tears that had escaped there.

“ _Yeah_...” I replied, shifting slightly, and **_my god; he’d honestly fit all that in there!_**

“ _Just full._ ” I admitted; clenching my insides experimentally, because I could feel every inch of Billy pressing against my walls.

Billy hissed at the sensation, closing his eyes in the most _beautifully tortured_ expression I’d ever seen.

“ _You gotta stop doing that; sweetheart_...” He warned once he’d regained his composure.

“ _Not if you don’t want me to wreck you._ ” He whispered with dark promise, and I resisted clenching again, because as much as the thought of Billy wrecking me turned me on; it’d already been sore enough with him taking it easy on me, and I really needed to be able to ride my bike tomorrow.

He gave me a couple of minutes to adjust; the feeling of something warm and hard so far inside me very foreign to me. It was like he’d filled every inch of space in my body, and even stretched to fill some more I wasn’t aware I had.

I’d steadied my breathing, taking time to enjoy the entirely new feeling of being full completely; of being closer to someone than I’d ever had before.

Billy just patiently balanced above me, watching my face with pure joy as my expression cycled from confused, to intrigued, to just plain happy.

“ _You ready for me to move yet, or do you need another minute?_ ” He asked sweetly, and he must’ve seen how my eyes went wide for a second, as he began rubbing circles in my back again.

“ _Yeah... Yeah; I guess.”_ I stuttered, thrown a little bit, because I’d been so focused on him actually getting inside me, I hadn’t stop to think there was some serious rutting Billy had been holding off for my sake.

“ _I’ll stop if you ask me to; I promise._ ” Billy replied, near mirroring his exact words from Halloween, but this time I knew he meant it wholeheartedly.

There was no Tommy or Tina to impress; _just me, him and the culmination of three weeks worth of sexual tension finally being resolved._

He gave me another careful kiss; no teeth this time, just tenderness, then pulled away, rising up to his knees.

My leg fell down his back at the change of position, but Billy grabbed hold of both of my ankles, tucking them just above his hips so my heels could dig into the base of his spine.

I gave him a hesitant squeeze, pulling his body a bit closer with my legs alone, then smiled.

He was smiling down at me, and I realised he did this on purpose; to give me a little sense of control in a time of uncertainty.

_Billy knew I was giving up a lot of trust to let him do this to me; trust that hadn’t necessarily been there before this afternoon,_ **_but he hadn’t taken that trust lightly._ **

He’d handled me gently so far, and really seemed eager that I should enjoy this as much as him.

Billy’s eyes had trailed down to where we’d joined; a smirk spreading across his face as he let out a chuckle.

“ _What’s so funny?”_ I asked, settling up on my elbows to see better, because despite him being buried six inches into me; I was feeling self conscious.

“ _Nothing. You just fit me so well._ ” He answered; his eyes never leaving the point of his rapture, that smile never dissipating.

I dared a look down, feeling a sense of dysmorphia because there was no way that was my vagina stretched around Billy’s cock like it belonged there.

_It was weird, because we were actually doing this._ **_Fuck; we’d already done it,_ ** _just because nobody had finished yet didn’t mean we weren’t having sex._

But Billy didn’t give me time to contemplate that little bombshell, suddenly shifting till he was leaning over me again.

He reached for my wrists, gently taking them in his hands and moving them up towards the headboard.

“ ** _What are you doing?_** ” I asked; wondering why he hadn’t just started thrusting yet? _I mean; I wasn’t in pain anymore._ ** _I was okay. Why wasn’t he doing something?_**

“ _I need you to hold on to this for me..._ ” He instructed; his voice too soft for it to be a demand.

“ _Okay_...” I agreed; kinda confused because I’d expected to be clinging to him by this time, but Billy was the expert here, and I was more than happy to adhere to that.

I wrapped my hands around the gaps in his headboard, keeping a light grip as he released my wrists.

Then he brought his hands up to the top of the headboard, holding onto tightly as if he feared what would happen if he let go.

“ _I don’t wanna hurt you._ ” He said; noticing my confusion and answering me before I’d even worded a question.

_Maybe I should’ve been concerned, because if Billy had to restrain himself so much just to sleep with me, maybe we shouldn’t be having sex at all._

That intense look in his eyes did little to steady my nerves; piercing blue eyes gazing into my eyes with this dark ferocity.

“ _You ready?_ ” He asked; his face suddenly serious, hands clenching tightly around the wood of the headboard, making it creak.

“ _Yeah. I think so._ ” I nodded; unable to unlock my gaze from his; a strange sense of intimacy passing between us.

Then Billy began to move, and _Jesus; I don’t think I could describe it_.

Shallow at first; just edging out by an inch or two, but still the feeling was so... **so intense.**

He’d bottom out with every thrust, nudging at my cervix each time in a way that made me feel like jumping off the bed.

I could feel why he told me to hold onto the headboard; my hands squeezing the wood so tight, I almost lost feeling in my fingers.

“ ** _Billy; oh god!_** ” I gasped, trying to give words to how I was feeling, but the only ones that came to mind were _more_ and _please_ , and **_god; he’d started moving faster_** , and I was beginning to feel lightheaded.

It was as if all the blood that was meant to be in my body had rushed straight to my crotch; my insides pulsing and vibrating with the beat of my heart, hammering at 80mph.

Billy was grunting again; _short and sharp and sexy_ , and I really wanted to put my hands on him; to feel how all that muscle tightened and strained with every thrust.

**_But I couldn’t loosen my hands from the headboard;_** my fingers clasped too tightly, because I really needed something to ground me other than the cock pistoling in and out of me with animalistic intensity.

Instead I just dug my heels in harder to the dip of Billy’s spine, urging him to take me **_deeper, harder_** than before.

He seemed to listen; his body picking up the pace to pull out of me near completely, before ramming back in with enough force that my body jumped up the mattress a little bit with every well timed thrust.

“ ** _Ah; Jesus Billy! I can’t..._** ”

**_Can’t think? Can’t breathe? Can’t stop?_** _I don’t know what I was trying to say to him; Billy having already succeeded in fucking the sense from me._

My spine was already arching, bending almost inhumanly in a risqué parody of The Exorcist.

Billy seemed to like it, angling his thrusts just right so he reached that spot in me that had me seeing lights at the edge of my vision.

I could feel that coil in my stomach again; that vibration that had seemed so insignificant was now dialed up to eleven, my whole body quaking with unspent desire.

Billy’s focus was intense.

I’d almost think he was zoning out if not for the way he stared at me, not once breaking eye contact.

It probably should’ve freaked me out a little, but right now when I was spread underneath him, his cock gradually bringing me to eternity; it was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.

**_He was absolutely gorgeous;_** arms visibly straining as he clutched the headboard, blue veins popping up on golden skin. The glittering sheen of sweat covered his entire body, dripping across taught muscle and chiseled bone.

I followed a particularly noticeable bead as it trailed down his neck, following the contours of his pecs, before dripping down onto my bare stomach.

It should’ve grossed me out, but it just increased my arousal, _because goddamnit; Billy was so beautiful like this._

Sweat dampened his hair, making it cling to his face and the back of his neck.

Every now and then his tongue would peak out of his mouth; a clear sign that despite his intense concentration, he was enjoying every minute of this.

I took a snapshot with my mind; forever determined to remember the beautifully wrecked face of Billy Hargrove.

The sounds were particularly memorable; my high pitched mewls and cries getting drowned out by the moans and grunts of Billy, all overshadowed by the loud thump of his bed hitting the drywall, making me very glad that none of the neighbours were likely to be home at this hour.

I was nearly at the edge again; my back curving up almost painfully as my hips tried to rise off the bed, despite Billy weighing them down.

I was panting, near hyperventilating as he hammered into me; my breathing reduced to rough gasps, _because I swear I could feel Billy in my lungs._

I closed my eyes, mouth falling open in a silent moan as I tried to hold off coming.

At this point I’d been to the edge so many times, I was afraid of falling; scared my orgasm would be too intense and I’d pass out and embarrass myself.

Still; Billy wasn’t letting up, clearly feeling the tension inside me and making it his mission to see it released.

“ _Open your eyes, sweetheart.”_ Billy instructed; his voice a harsh growl between shallow breaths.

_“I wanna see you when you come.”_ He continued, and so I opened my eyes, staring into those incredible baby blues till I only had time for one last thought before I slipped over the edge.

**_My god; Billy was beautiful!_ **


	22. Chapter Twenty Two - Teenage Kicks

I couldn’t control myself after those blissful moments; my body spasming so violently, you’d think I was having a seizure.

I could feel my insides rhythmically clenching, squeezing on Billy like a vice, determined to bring him over the edge with me.

He groaned loudly, leaning in close to bite the meat of my shoulder; his teeth piercing so sharply, I swore he punctured skin.

But still; he didn’t come, thighs shaking with a desperate need for release, but Billy was disciplined. He wasn’t gonna finish till he’d wrangled everything he wanted out of me.

I think I screamed his name, but my mind was too blank afterwards to be sure.

I might’ve even blacked out for a few seconds, but it didn’t matter to Billy, he was back to work in seconds; already confident he could force another orgasm out of me.

Billy’s hips started to move again, gentler this time, and I could already feel the startings of a second orgasm; even whilst my body was still spasming with the remnants of the first.

He let go of the bed; the wood whining from the release of strain, then brought his hands down to my wrists, cradling them gently.

“ _You can let go...”_ He whispered, and at first he was talking about another climax, until I felt his hands begin to pull mine away from the headboard.

“ _It’s alright. Relax...”_ He cooed; my fingers automatically unclenching; the blood rushing back into my fingertips.

He laid them down on the bed; my fingers still twitching with tension, then gradually trailed his fingertips down the inside of my wrists and up my forearms.

I watched with blurry eyes as his hands travelled up further, eventually reaching my shoulders, then began skimming the sides of my torso.

It was hard to focus like this; my body already building up to another orgasm, the feeling of Billy pumping in and out of me incapacitating me from all rational thought.

It must’ve been harder for him; holding back from release whilst he still managed something resembling intimacy, even whilst his body was keeping up a brutal pace all the while.

His hands cupped the sides of my breasts, before dropping lower to trail over my rib cage; almost as if he was trying to memorise my very shape with intrepid fingers, _how my body arched and contorted to his will._

His grip settled on my waist, lining up perfectly with the fading purple bruises of Halloween; a blueprint on how to exactly hold me in the brink of pleasure.

“ _I’m gonna try something different. You okay with that?_ ” Billy panted, his hips not stopping even for a minute whilst his fingers tightened around my waist.

“ _Depends_...” I managed to gasp between short staccato breaths, my body still bouncing between him and the mattress.

“ _When I start moving; I need you to move with me. Okay..._ ” He instructed, and I was beginning to kinda like bossy Billy; the whole quiet confidence thing so different from his macho bravado at school.

I nodded; putting my faith in Billy for perhaps the fifteenth time that day; unbridled desire an excellent prompt for fostering trust between relative strangers.

He began to tilt me up by my waist; my back arching off the bed till I had no choice but to move with him, sitting up till I was sat in his lap, pressed chest to chest with him.

I let out a cross between a whine and a moan at the sudden movement; the new angle penetrating so much deeper and further than before.

I automatically spread my knees, letting them fall over Billy’s muscled thighs; the heavy skin on skin contact frazzling my nerves.

My arms reached up to clamp around the back of Billy’s neck, desperate to find a bit of purchase, because I honestly felt like I might fall off him otherwise.

“ _This alright?_ ” Billy asked breathlessly; his face now at eye level, and I was no longer able to escape the intense gaze of his baby blues.

“ _Yeah..._ ” I panted, grinning like a madwoman, because it was actually so nice to see his smile up close and inspect every last freckle and dimple.

“ _Incredible_.” I continued; and Billy’s smile rose a little, his nose moving forward to bump against mine, and I was suddenly aware that his entire body was pressed up against mine; not a single millimetre of space between us.

It was intense, and when Billy started to move again, his face moving forward so he could kiss me with hungry enthusiasm; I couldn’t contain my eagerness, moans and sighs spilling from my lips in between heated kisses.

My body started acting on instinct, arching and rocking with every rise and fall of Billy’s hips, and before I knew it; I was thrusting with him, chasing what was _guaranteed_ to be a very intense orgasm that was brewing in my gut.

My fingers clenched into the meat of Billy’s muscles, leaving what were sure to be deep scratches along Billy’s shoulders.

He returned the enthusiasm; fingers squeezing almost painfully on my hips; his lips nipping and sucking on my own as expressed all of his devotion through forceful kisses.

I was there now; my body arching towards Billy’s so my stomach pressed against his, his hard abs rippling with effort.

I broke a kiss to lean into him, bracing my chin on his shoulder as my arms squeezed tightly around his neck.

I let out a sob as I finally crashed over; my insides clamping down on Billy uncontrollably, until he followed me over; tilting his hips up and letting out a animalistic grunt.

I felt something hot and wet shoot into me; the sensation pleasurable enough that my insides twitched excitedly.

My breathing was rapid; shallow and shaky as I tried to catch my breath, still clinging to Billy as if I was afraid that the moment I’d let go; I’d slip into nothingness.

I may have been crying; I wasn’t exactly sure, but my cheeks were wet and Billy’s shoulder was damp with something I didn’t think was sweat.

Billy’s hands had settled on the backs of my thighs, holding me upright with a bruising grip that was sure to leave pretty marks that more than rivalled the ones on my hips.

His hands gradually loosened; one sliding up to cup my backside in what I’d hoped was an attempt to steady me, whilst the other settled in the curve of my spine, rubbing soothing circles in the skin there.

“ _You okay?_ ” He mumbled into my hair, stopping to plant a soft kiss on the top of my head.

His chest was heaving, slowly moving me back and forth with the effort. Pro or not; clearly this session had taken a lot out of Billy.

“ _Yeah. Just... adjusting.._ ” I managed to respond, clenching my insides experimentally, because although Billy was still inside me; he was softer now and I could feel a thick wetness beginning to escape out of me.

He loosened his grip and I did the same, resettling until I was perched on his thighs, staring directly into his blissfully relaxed face.

Billy was especially beautiful like this; high on nothing but hormones, a radiant post-sex glow making his eyes seem even brighter, if that was possible.

If his smile didn’t take what was left of my breath away, the kiss that followed did; his fingers tangling into the back of my hair as he claimed my lips with a zealous passion.

He pulled away and I grinned at him, honestly out of breath, _and I decided that I’d be happy to stay like this for the rest of my life; cradled in the strong arms of Billy Hargrove, blissfully unawares of the world outside whilst he kissed away my worries and fucked away my reservations._

_Maybe the plan wasn’t practical,_ and when Billy started to lower me back down towards the mattress; **I knew it was over.**

My body sunk bonelessly into the plush fabric; my muscles still trembling from sensory overload, even as Billy pulled his hands away from the skin of my back; the sudden sense of cold that followed a particularly uncomfortable notion.

“ _I best get us cleaned up...”_ Billy mumbled; the casualness of his tone unsettling as he began pulling out.

I don’t know what stung more; how nonchalant Billy was about our little trist, or the sudden burning emptiness that followed when Billy pulled out of me completely; a thick trail of his cum trickling out down my thighs and onto the comforter.

He stared down at it with such pride, like he was marking his territory, and I was hit with that sudden urge to close my legs; despite the knowledge that Billy had seen more of me than anyone ever had, and was now intimately acquainted with the subject at hand.

“ _Beautiful_...” Billy muttered; though whether he was talking about me, or the mess he’d left between my legs; I don’t know.

He reached out with eager fingers; gathering up his cum and pressing them back inside me, as if he could stop it from leaking out.

There was a sting there; my insides tender and inflamed from his rather intense ministrations, and maybe the notion behind his actions should’ve alarmed me more; the very fact he’d elected to ignore his promise of pulling out, and decided to finish inside me, enough of a cause to start alarm bells ringing in my head.

Still; I was tired and sore, and Billy had already begun making his way towards the bathroom; the slight bounce of his toned ass when he walked, quite the sight to behold.

Instead I settled down into the softness of his comforter; my eyes thoughtlessly scanning over cracks in the ceiling as a new revelation dawned upon me;

**_I’d just lost my virginity to Billy Hargrove._ **


	23. Chapter Twenty Three - Smooth Negotiator

Somehow I’d managed to fall asleep in Billy’s bed, and whether out of consideration or laziness; he’d decided not to wake me.

Instead he’d just lifted my unconscious body into his bed and tucked me in, before getting in behind me and settling down for the night.

At one point I think I woke up to yelling; not sure if I was still half asleep and dreaming about some argument I had with my dad.

Then I felt Billy’s grip tighten around my waist; tension clear in his muscles as he held me close to his chest.

“ _Billy; what’s happening?_ ” I managed to mumble through sleep; my body recognising his strong form, even if my mind wasn’t awake enough to work out where I was.

“ _Nothing; sweetheart. Just go back to sleep.”_ He whispered, kissing the side of my head affectionately; but despite his reassurances, he remained tense, and I could still hear yelling on the other side of the bedroom door.

I closed my eyes and let my head fall back on the pillow, too damn exhausted to try and figure out what was bothering him so much.

So I fell asleep to the sound of a man yelling muffled through drywall, and Billy’s fingertips leaving bruises on my waist.

——————————————————-

Sunlight peaked through the slats of closed blinds; an unavoidable nuisance at this hour in the morning, but one I’d taken on as my own personal alarm clock, reminding me I had to get my ass out of bed for work.

I groaned at the notion; struggling to find the motivation to haul myself out of bed and actually get dressed.

I felt something tighten around my waist, suddenly aware of a very warm and very naked body behind my back; a low groan of complaint sounding off somewhere behind me as my bedmate tried to pull me further towards them.

I was hit with the scent of cigarettes, cheap cologne and sex, thoroughly aware that it wasn’t my bed I was waking up in.

My blurry eyes focused on the plastering of heavy metal posters on the wall opposite, mixed in with an assortment of pinups featuring girls on motorcycles wearing little more than bikinis.

The arm around my waist tightened again; and I felt the mattress shift; my fidgeting clearly disturbing my bedmate.

“ _Go back to sleep; Lola_.” A sleepy but familiar voice grumbled behind me, and suddenly my memories from last night came flooding back to me.

_I wasn’t at home in the cabi_ n; I was in Billy Hargrove’s house, in bed with the man himself having spent the night after losing my virginity to him.

Beneath the harsh light of day; I could hardly believe that any of that sentence was real, holding off pinching myself, because it was only eight o’clock in the morning, and Billy was already pissed o-

**_Oh shit!_ **

**_It was already eight o’clock!_ **

**I was late for fucking work**! Charlie was gonna kill me, then fire me, then bring me back to life again so I could do penance as a carwasher girl.

“ ** _Fuck me..._** ” I muttered, pulling off the covers and attempting to spring out of bed; only for a particularly strong grip to stop me.

“ _Maybe later..._ ” Mumbled Billy; half asleep and taking my expletive as a request, but he still managed to keep an iron grip round my wrist.

“ _Billy; I’ve gotta get to work_.” I argued, attempting to pull my hand free despite his lingering grip; his fingers loosening, but refusing to let go entirely.

“ _Come on; sweetheart. They can wait five more minutes._ ” Coaxed Billy from the bed; his head haven risen from the pillow to look at me, and **_damn; he still looked good in the morning._**

His curls were mussed from sleep and sex, and his eyes seemed less focused at this hour, but still; he was pretty, propped up on one elbow whilst his sheet bunched low on his waist.

My eyes followed that trail of hair again, disappearing beneath the blanket, and _goddamnit; how much I wished I could just spend the rest of the day in bed with him_.

But the sun was getting higher in the sky outside, and I knew if I wasn’t in by noon; Charlie would call my dad, and _the last thing I wanted to explain to Jim Hopper is why he found his teenage daughter curled up in bed with what one day would be a felon, if my dad’s sense of judgment could guess anything about Billy._

“ _Lola, baby; come back to bed._ ” Billy continued to try and coax me, sat bolt upright as I made the way to the end of the bed picking up articles of clothing along the way.

I ignored both him and the ache he’d left between my thighs; the resulting punishment for a night’s hard fucking, in favour scooping up my shorts and panties, only to have the latter snatched from my hands.

“ _Come on, Billy. Give them back._ ” I requested, reaching to take them from him despite my muscles protests to do so, but he pulled away; raising his arm as far away from me as possible.

“ _Finders keepers._ ” He stated with a smirk, managing to keep them out of my reach even when I made a particularly ambitious dive for them, nearly crawling on top of him to reach them.

“ _Billy; it’s_ ** _not_** _funny..._ ” I continued, using his shoulders as leverage to reach higher in an attempt to snatch the swatch of pale pink lace from him.

Billy took advantage of my unstable position to wrap one muscled arm around me, pulling me down on top of him in what I guessed was an attempt to coarse me into more sex.

I landed spread over him, knees perched at the sides of his waist, and I could already feel the startings of a boner brushing between my thighs.

Billy stared up at me; sinfully sweet with that million dollar smile that could knock out a horse.

He kept his arms spread above his head; a position of mock surrender despite him still keeping my underwear in a tight grip.

_“I wanna keep these as a token.”_ He said with a cheeky smirk, holding the fabric to his chest as if they had some value besides bragging rights.

“ ** _You mean a souvenir._** ” I stated, using my superior position to finally snatch them from him, though I couldn’t hold back the smile on my face at seeing him so submissive and sweet.

“ _What else am I meant to remember you by?_ ” He continued to tease, watching as I sat on the edge of his bed and attempted to put on my panties.

“ _You’ll see me in school on Monday_.” I reminded him as I pulled one leg through, not buying the hard done by act in the slightest, because Billy was just looking for a way to get me back into bed.

“ _But what if I can’t wait that long?_ ” He asked as his voice dropped an octave; him moving to sit behind me and wrap his arms around my waist.

“ _Billy_...”. I warned, having already played this game with him and never having come out the victor.

_“I want you now.”_ He growled into my ear, ending it with a little nuzzle just to convince me more.

One of his hands had reached up to cup my breast, whilst the other had worked it’s way between my legs, already beginning to push between my folds.

I hissed in discomfort, because I really hadn’t realised how hard he had gone last night, but now with his fingers attempting to press into me; I could really begin to asses the damage.

“ _Billy... stop. I’m too sore._ ” I protested, gently pulling his hand away, because as much as I’d love for Billy to bring me to orgasm again; _I really was sore_ , and I had to be in work in twenty minutes.

I stood up, deciding Billy really had too much of an advantage on the bed, and I really couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

I pulled on my underwear, stopping to grab my shorts and pull them up to my thighs.

“ _I could just eat you out instead. Wouldn’t hurt at all..._ ” He continued to barter with me; leaning back to enjoy the way my tits and ass bounced a little to get my shorts up.

“ _And then if you feel like returning the favour; I could teach you how to suck me off.”_ He continued, talking with the same casual tone you’d use to talk about the weather.

I turned and gave him a look, because only Billy Hargrove could drive such a hard bargain when it came to sex.

He just smirked up at me; posed perfectly on his side with the sheet barely covering his groin, resembling the most perfect renaissance painting.

“ _Billy; you’re making this way harder than it’s got to be..._ ” I sighed, quickly fastening my bra back to front, then twisting it into place.

“ ** _Hey; you’re the one making it hard_** _. I just have to lie here and suffer with it_.” He teased; counteracting my seriousness with lighthearted innuendos, and I was beginning to wonder if I’d crawled into bed with Steve instead.

“ ** _Billy; for God’s sake. Can you just get dressed so I can go to work already?_** ” I griped; pulling my t-shirt over my head, before beginning the search for my shoes.

“ _Alright. On one condition._..” Billy settled, sitting up and moving to the edge of the bed; and _wow, maybe I’d just won an argument with Billy Hargrove._

“ ** _What_** _condition?_ ” I asked dryly, hoping one one leg as I tried to pull on the first of my boots.

“ _You suck me off._ ” He stated, already sitting on the edge of the bed in all his naked glory.

I chuckled, pulling on my other boot, because _this boy was getting way_ ** _too_** _cocky, and there was_ ** _no way_** _I was gonna let him barter with me for sexual favours._

“ ** _Not_** _gonna happen._ ” I refused, finally begging to lace up my boots, because **_Billy was taking me to work whether he wanted to or not._**

“ _Then_ ** _I guess_** _you’ll just have to take the bus..._ ” He drawled lying back on the bed with an exaggerated sigh; already fully committed to getting some sort of attention from me.

_Well;_ **_that_ ** _wasn’t gonna happen._ **_There’s no way he could hold me hostage like._ **


	24. Chapter Twenty Four - Tastes Like Cherry Cola

So Billy didn’t taste half as bad as I’d thought he would; _in fact, I kinda liked it_ , the entire experience a lot more pleasurable than I’d expected.

It also helped that at this angle I could see his face completely; watching the way he’d grimace and keen when my tongue would run over a particular spot that’d leave his thighs shaking.

I had been fully committed to walking out that door and leaving him wanting, because really; that was a dick move, and **_how dare he try and tell me what to do when I’d already let him have his way yesterday!_**

But Billy was convincing, lying back seductively on his comforter, spread out and ready like he had nowhere to go.

He smirked up at me the entire time as I stood over him, fully dressed with my arms crossed over my chest because **_no; this wasn’t gonna happen._**

Then he reached down between his legs and began stroking himself; long, languid strokes that emphasised the fact he’d happily lie there and tease me all morning, just to get what he wanted.

I crumbled then, resolved in giving into him, because I really didn’t fancy walking to work, and _if he had asked me under other circumstances; I would’ve obliged happily._

I rolled my eyes and sighed, because I was a petty bitch, and he deserved to know how infuriating he was, before getting on my knees and positioning myself between his legs.

Billy sat up slightly, smirking, because he knew he’d won; his eyes dark and lively with lust and amusement.

I reached out, taking his cock in hand and running my hand up and down it experimentally.

He was proportionally large; needing nearly my whole hand to encircle him, and warm, bordering on hot.

Billy had been ready to go minutes after waking up, and now he’d grown to his full length; I was beginning to struggle to work out how I was gonna fit him into my mouth.

“ _So; how am I meant to do this_?” I asked, keeping my eyes fixed on my hand, because as erotic as the sight was; I knew looking at his face would be worse.

“ _Just do what feels natural and I’ll tell you if you’re doing it right._ ” He instructed, and I could feel the strain in his voice, especially when he _hissed_ as I let my thumb flick over his tip.

_I guess I wasn’t the_ **_only_ ** _one that was sensitive._

I leaned in close, running my tongue tentatively along the base to tip; trying my best to follow a prominent vein that ran there.

Billy hissed again, shifting ever so slightly on the mattress.

One of his hands was digging into the comforter; veins already bulging with tension.

His other reached up to grab hold of my hair, and I pulled away for a moment, thinking I’d done something wrong.

“ _Should I stop?_ ” I asked, raising my eyes to meet his for the first time since I fell to my knees.

He already looked pretty worked up; face slightly flushed and pupils nearly encompassing his irises completely.

“ _No. You’re doing great sweetheart. Just keep going._ ” He encouraged, applying a gentle amount of pressure to the back of my head so I’d move it forwards again.

I followed his instruction, leaning in to run my tongue around his head, before flicking up to tongue his slit; the distinct taste of salt beading on my tongue.

I took a deep breath, already knowing what the natural next step would be, before opening my mouth wide and taking him into it.

When my warm mouth encased him, Billy let out a drawn out groan, his fingers tightening in my hair in what I guessed was a show of pleasure, rather than a petition for me to stop.

_It felt weird; like sucking on a particularly large and warm ice pop, the flavour closer to salt and soap, with a hint of musk, and_ **_was that cologne?_ **

_Definitely, if the slightly alcoholic taste that burnt on my tongue was real;_ **_and that sly fucker had known we’d be having sex!_ **

I was tempted to bite down a little bit and apply the tiniest bit of teeth, but once I took in that near painful look of pleasure on his face again, I changed my mind.

Billy was far too pretty for his own good, and when he loomed over me; eyes clenched shut and muscles trembling slightly, whispers of “ _please_ ” and “ _God_ ” and “ _Lola_ ” on his lips; I could almost sigh in admiration.

_Almost_ ; if I hadn’t had three inches of cock shoved into my mouth. **_Wait; four now_**. Billy had shifted his hips up slightly so he could slide further in.

I started to use a little suction, trying mimic how my pussy clenched down on him and made him gasp particularly loud.

Billy responded beautifully; titling his head back and clenching his jaw, till I could see the muscles throbbing from the tension, his jugular rising to the surface in a pretty shade of blue.

I reached up and touched his thigh; a wordless request for him to look at me, then ran my fingers up the trembling muscle.

I just wanted to see Billy’s eyes, and when they opened up, shooting down to meet mine, I was not disappointed.

He looked half feral; his pupils insanely large to the point they nearly swallowed up the blue in its entirety.

“ ** _Jesus; Lola._** _You sure you haven’t done this before?_ ” He groaned; loosening his grip around the sheets to reach forward and run a comforting hand through my hair.

I didn’t say anything, just managed to crack a smile around his cock, before doubling my efforts, sucking with twice the enthusiasm.

Billy’s eyes remained fixed upon me; taking in what must’ve been a sloppy sight.

Me with my eyes blown wide, staring up at him; my mouth stretched around the width of his cock, spit leaking out and running down my chin, leaving trails over my t shirt.

Still; he smiled like it was the most radiant sight he’d seen, petting my hair affectionately.

“ ** _Beautiful_**...” He mumbled; and I was beginning to notice a pattern here, Billy’s idea of beautiful often including me in sloppy states of sexual depravity.

My jaw was beginning to start to hurt, and I was wondering how long Billy expected me to keep this up; my tongue working harder to lather his shaft, flicking over his head as I milked more precum from it.

Lucky for me; Billy must’ve been getting close, his breathing picking up and his thighs beginning to tremble.

He pressed down on my head again, thrusting up into the back of my mouth, and I felt him hit the top of my throat; the sensation near triggering my gag reflex.

I managed to hold on; so eager to see Billy finish, but then he did it again; hitting my throat so hard, he began to push in, and I had to pull away.

My mouth pulled off him with a wet pop, and I think I heard a cry of disappointment; Billy having been so close to the edge, only to have my mouth ripped away at the last moment.

It didn’t matter to me; I was too busy coughing and spluttering as my stomach attempted to bring up contents it didn’t have, _and_ _for once I was glad we’d skipped dinner._

“ _Hey; hey. Relax..._ ” I heard Billy coo over me; a reassuring hand pressing on my lower back to rub gentle circles.

I continued to gag; my stomach determined to bring something up, though all that seemed to come out was the excess saliva I’d managed to gather in my mouth.

I spat it out on the floor, not really thinking about if it’d stain the carpet or not; but Billy didn’t seem to care, too preoccupied in trying to nurse me through it.

Once I’d managed to stop choking, I settled back on the floor, renormalising my breathing till it felt level again.

“ _Relax. It’s normal to not be able to take it all on the first try.”_ Billy reassured me, crouched on the floor beside me, stark naked, but still managing to be a comforting presence.

I looked up at him; taking in his easy smile and demeanour.

I still felt bad, _but not for me;_ ** _for him._**

He was still **_ridiculously_** hard; his cock glistening with my spit, precum beading on the tip from where he still hadn’t finished.

“ _I’m sorry..._ ” I managed to whisper; though I wasn’t sure if I was apologising for the mess I’d left on his carpet, or the raging hard on I’d still not relieved him of.

“ _It’s okay. We can try again if you want?_ ” He said, stroking my cheek sweetly; and although the request should’ve disgusted me, I felt eager to see it through.

_Billy said he’d teach me to suck him off; and that included me finishing him off,_ **_even_ ** _if that meant me having to bypass my gag reflex to do that._

I resettled up on my knees, urging Billy to take his place back on the bed.

“ _Are you sure you’re okay? Because we can wait another five minutes if you want to.._.” He offered as he settled on the edge of the mattress, cock bobbing up to his stomach as I crawled between his knees.

“ _No. I want to do this.”_ I refused a little hoarsely; my throat slightly sore, but **damnit; I knew I could do this.**

I took Billy in my hand again, stroking languidly again, enjoying how my spit slicked my way for an easier glide.

Billy watched with those lust blown eyes, uttering gentle words of encouragement the whole time.

I opened my mouth taking him in to about the three inch mark, before bobbing my head back of forth, working on the remaining inches.

“ _Great job; sweetheart. You’re already doing so well.”_ Billy encouraged; his voice low and husky as he just sat and watched, allowing me to take control.

I smiled round him, slowly making my way further down his cock, but I always seemed to hesitate around the fourth inch; it’s like something in my body froze up at the thought.

Billy shifted, settling his hands around the back of my head; his grip steadying but not forceful.

“ _Here; let me help...”_ He petitioned, and I decided I would, because _goddamnit; I was gonna get those last few inches even if it choked me._

“ _Relax your throat..._ ” He instructed, bobbing my head back and forward as his cock began to brush my tonsils again.

I listened, going against every reflex I had to allow him entry.

“ ** _That’s it; sweetheart._** _You’re doing beautiful._ ” He continued to coo, and I could feel him slipping down my throat, the sensation nearly suffocating, but at the same time surreal.

“ _Try not to swallow too much; it will make it worse._ ” He continued to coach me; and I followed his instructions, letting even more saliva dribble out of my mouth rather than swallowing it down.

Billy was getting close again, I could feel it in his thighs as I clung to them for support. His shaft was beginning to throb; the sensation strangely comforting in my throat.

“ ** _Oh shit; sweetheart! I’m almost there!_** ” He groaned, actually beginning to thrust sloppily into my mouth.

It made me want to gag again, but I squeezed down hard on my thumb, and breathed in short sharp breaths through my nose, managing to stave off the reflex.

Billy’s thrusts were bottoming out every time; my nose brushing up against his groin every time; the hair there almost ticklish.

I could feel the tension in his muscles; his fingers pulling in my hair till it was almost painful, as his cock swelled to the hardest it’s ever been.

“ ** _Lola; fuck!_** ” Billy near cried, biting into his fist to mute the sound, because we’d both almost forgot we weren’t alone in the house anymore.

His hips thrust forward, jamming his cock down my throat as he began to cum.

The sensation was weird; the thick hot fluid slipping right down my throat and into my stomach, missing my tongue in its entirety.

I knew he probably should’ve asked.

Some girls probably didn’t appreciate being choked by cum without permission, but I had to admit I’d liked it; the visceral reaction on Billy’s face too precious to bypass.

I swallowed around his softening cock; the task easier now, and managed to draw another groan from Billy; him twitching with the slightest of interest, _but I wasn’t about to do that again._

I started to pull away now; his cock sliding over my tongue so I could taste him fully.

**_It was better than expected_** ; I thought as I actually lathed my tongue over the head, cleaning him up whilst savouring the taste.

Salty and slightly bitter, but something altogether quite Billy, which I’d decided I quite enjoyed.

Once I’d licked him clean, I pulled off him with a wet pop, taking my first proper breath since nearly throwing up; but I couldn’t even do that without Billy intervening.

His mouth flew forward with jetlike speed, landing on mine to initiate a passionate kiss; tongues included.

I thought he might’ve been put off by his own taste, but Billy seemed to luxuriate in it, tracing my tongue with his own as if gathering up all the remnants of his cum.

He pulled away as quickly as he’d initiated it; strings of saliva trailing from our lips, because he hadn’t even given me a chance to swallow properly.

Billy didn’t care; just shot me one of those breathtaking smiles that seemed to steal the air from my lungs.

“ ** _Jesus; Lola._** _That was incredible._ ” He sighed; his eyes still burning bright with desire, but I was already conscious of the time, his clock already proudly displaying 9:15 on its face.

“ _So; now will you drop me to work?_ ” I asked with a hoarse chuckle, but despite my smile; **I was serious.**

**_I’d upheld my end of the bargain; now it was time for him to do the same._ **

“ _Yeah. Sure. Let me just take a second to clean up._ ” Billy nodded; a warm breathless chuckle bubbling from his throat.

——————————————————

A second had amounted to fifteen minutes; Billy having convinced me to take a quick shower with him to clean off the stickiness I was beginning to notice on my skin.

I wasn’t sure if sex was meant to be so messy, but I’d managed to avoid letting Billy initiate anything further; limiting our contact in the shower to short kisses and lingering touches, because Billy couldn’t be trusted with free reign over my naked body.

He’d offered to wash me, but I’d politely refused; knowing it was a plot that ended with him fingering me beneath the water spout. Instead we’d been strictly business, and I’d managed to get us dressed and in the car by nine thirty.

Charlie was **still** gonna have a cow, and I was gonna have to make up for it in overtime if I ever hoped to finish work on Marty’s truck, but I don’t think my dad would’ve been called yet; _thank god for small mercies._

The ride over to work had been relatively quiet, but there had been none of the tension from yesterday; both Billy and I happy to ride the wave of postsex haze, hormones relaxing us to a near vegetive state.

Billy kept the radio on; the first notes of Lola by The Kinks filling the airwaves, and I chuckled, because **_of course; it’d be this song._**

“ _What’s so funny?_ ” Billy asked; bright blue eyes leaving the road to stare at me with muted admiration.

“ _Nothing_...” I continued to giggle slightly, unable to keep the smile off my face.

“ _It’s just this is the song my dad named me after...”_ I admitted; turning away from the window to see him better.

“ _And what’s funny about that?_ ” He asked; still staring at me with those baby blues, and maybe I should’ve been concerned he wasn’t looking at the road, but somehow Billy’s attention was worth more than the threat of a crash.

“ _He didn’t know it was a song about a transvestite._ ” I smiled, because it was a sweet song all in all, and maybe dad had predicted more of my socially outcasted nature than he’d realised.

Billy just smiled; enjoying the little story into my identity more than I’d expected.

“ _Well; I like it.”_ He said; turning the radio up loud so we could both sing along.

**_“Well I’m not the world’s most passionate guy, but when I looked in her eyes; well I almost fell for my Lola...”_ **


	25. Chapter Twenty Five - Six Thirty

When I arrived at Charlie’s; it seemed like that little bubble we’d resided in for the past sixteen hours had burst.

The radio was reduced back to a low buzz and the awkward silence was resumed; both me and Billy clearly struggling with the words to say.

_Maybe because we both knew_ **_this was it_ ** _; that there was_ **_no way_ ** _what we had here was sustainable._

_I mean; till yesterday_ **_everyone, including ourselves_ ** _, thought we’d be at each other’s throats forever._

_We couldn’t just walk into school on Monday like we were suddenly a couple;_ **_could we?_ **

**No; we couldn’t.**

Billy was a dick in school, and besides; Steve hated him, and I couldn’t do that to my best friend.

**_This was a one time thing; a one night stand_** , _even though the word tasted bitter on my tongue._

There’d never been any discussions on relationships and feelings; even if Billy had been gentle with me, planting whispered kisses of affection on my hair, leaving lover’s touches on my skin.

On Monday morning Billy and I would act as if everything was the same, and last night and the morning after would be abandoned to memories; just another wet dream I’d be embarrassed about come morning.

Billy put the car in park, leaving the engine running as we both sat unmoving in the car, both gathering the nerve to face the inevitable.

“ _Thanks for the ride..._ ” I began; the words coming out awkward and clunky; _and when had things got so hard again?_

We’d been talking so easily just ten minutes ago. _Like it’d actually meant something;_ ** _like we were actually in..._**

**_No_ ** _; I was jumping to conclusions again._

**_Stop being stupid; Lola! Get your head screwed back on._ **

“ _And everything else._ ” I floundered, and I wanted to say so much more, because like it or not; last night had been a big deal to me, and Billy had been a lot of my firsts, **but I wasn’t his.**

**_And that’s what I had to remember._ ** _I was just another notch in the ever growing bedpost of Billy’s lays._

“ _No problem._ ” Billy replied; his eyes remaining unfocused on the road ahead, a cigarette lit between his lips, _but this couldn’t be it._

_He seemed so distant._ ** _Cold_** , but I’d seen the real Billy last night, and in the early hours of the morning; and **he wasn’t like this.**

**_This was that asshole from Tina’s party._ **

_This wasn’t the man who’d clinged to me last night when voices were raising into dangerous territories; his hands soft and warm._

_“I had a good time last night._ ” I continued; pulling my jacket tighter around me, trying desperately to get him to turn back into that boy from the night before, but **_goddamnit; it was like pulling teeth and I just wanted him to say something_** _; anything._

Billy just nodded, eyes still fixed on the road, and I couldn’t work out if he was actually agreeing with me, or his mind was somewhere else and he was just doing it out of instinct.

I stared at him for a minute; trying to work out what I’d said wrong, or maybe I was just being too clingy.

**Why was he being like this?**

**_Was this really his plan all along?_ ** _To use me for sex, then just ignore me like I was another tick on his ledger?_

**_I should’ve been angry_ ** _, but really I was just disappointed._

_I’d begun to expect more from Billy, but turns out he was just_ **_another fuck up_ ** _in the long list of things that had gone wrong in my life._

I unbuckled my seatbelt, opening the car door in a hurry, because I could feel tears at the corners of my eyes, and **_goddamnit; why the fuck was I so emotional all the time?!_**

“ _I guess I’ll see you in school._ ” I muttered, eager to get out of the car, because it had just dawned upon me that I might’ve made a big mistake; _one that I couldn’t blame on bad liquor and teenage merriment._

I climbed out, and made my way around the car, avoiding eye contact at all costs.

I could tell I was about to cry, but I couldn’t let that happen. _I had work, and I was running late, and..._

“ ** _Lola; hold on a sec_** ”

Billy’s voice cut through the air like a gunshot, and I half expected him to tell me I’d forgotten my keys in the front seat, or something stupid like that.

I braced myself, trying my best to put on a neutral face, because I couldn’t let him see I was upset.

I turned to face him, noting how even now he didn’t make eye contact; too busy tapping his cigarette on the steering wheel, knocking off leaves of ash that was sure to stain the carpet.

“ _Can I see you again?_ ” He asked; the words stiff and formal and not at all what I’d expected coming out of the mouth of a serial womaniser like Billy Hargrove.

I was taken aback for a moment, because I’d been dead convinced that this had been it; that he’d pull over and let me out and we’d go on pretending we barely knew each other.

I’d prepared myself for it; talking sense to myself in a hundred different ways, because there was _no way_ Billy Hargrove was capable of any kind of commitment.

I hadn’t prepared myself for this.

I stared at him, suddenly left speechless, taking in what I now realised was the posture of a nervous man.

Billy was hunched slightly, his blue eyes flickering between the carpet and the windshield; like he couldn’t decide what was safer to settle on.

**He looked scared** , and **excited** , and **agitated** ; _but most of all,_ ** _he looked pretty._**

_But he always had, hadn’t he?_

It was my first thought when he’d pulled up outside Hawkins High; blaring music and billowing gasoline.

**_Not hot, not sexy_ ** _, but pretty; plain and simple._

_Maybe I’d always seen the innocence in Billy, buried deep beneath all that bravado and smoke; the kinda guy he could actually truly be._

_Maybe I’d just been that naive; my rational thoughts brought tumbling down by that simple adjective;_ **_pretty_ ** _._

But I realised Billy was waiting for an answer, and it wasn’t fair for me to keep him waiting any longer.

“ _Yeah_...” I uttered; the word so soft it was almost a whisper. “ _I think I’d like that_.”

Billy smiled; a radiant, beautiful thing, and his eyes raised up to meet mine.

“ _So; tonight? I’ll pick you up around six?”_ He asked, and it brought a smile on my face _, because it dawned upon me that_ ** _maybe_** _Billy hadn’t had to ask someone on an actual date before._

“ ** _Seven_**.” I corrected him; already well versed in driving hard bargains with stubborn men in nice cars.

“ _Gotta make up the hours. Some asshole interrupted me during work yesterday_.” I teased, because Billy got my sense of humour; laughter lighting up his bright blue eyes.

I backed towards the shop, still not prepared to tear my eyes away from him, _just in case he was a mirage and I’d actually been tossed out on Billy’s doorstep this morning in nothing but my underwear._

“ _Make it six thirty; I still haven’t finished my apology._ ” Billy bartered; the man’s sexual enthusiasm never failing to astound me.

“ ** _Billy Hargrove; you are insatiable._** ” I scoffed, barely containing a smile, because _only he_ could make this a competition.

“ _Are you complaining?!_ ” He retorted, quirking an eyebrow with a smirk that was plain sinful.

I just laughed, because we’d had a very similar debate less than an hour ago, _and judging by how it ended; it’d be best to let him win again._

I made my way back over to his car, leaning in through the open window so I could grab him by his jacket collar and pull him in for a kiss.

This time it only took seconds for him to respond, mouth pressing hard against mine with the clear intent of deepening it, but I didn’t let him.

Billy had already occupied too much of my morning and my head. Instead I pulled away, still remaining close enough that I could make out that slightly dazed look in his eyes.

“ ** _Six thirty._** ” I agreed; my voice just a little bit breathless.

“ _Six thirty._ ” He repeated; not breaking eye contact for even a second.

I gave him one last kiss; this one quick and soft, _because I guess I couldn’t keep my hands off Billy either_ , not after we’d agreed to see each other on a more permanent basis.

Then I pulled away, turning my back on Billy, because I didn’t quite trust myself not to climb in his lap then and there after the morning we’d had.

I could feel his eyes on me as I walked into the auto shop, but this time, it was appreciated; me exaggerating the sway in my hips, because **_maybe_** _he deserved something to keep him going until tonight._

“ _Good thing I didn’t call your dad; eh_?” Called out Charlie, who was sat at the front desk stock listing; a thinly veiled look of amusement on his face as he watched me and Billy’s exchange.

“ _Sorry I’m late, Charlie._ ” I apologised; hoping that a complete lack of snark would make him drop the subject entirely.

“ _Yeah; I can see you were_ ** _very_** _busy_.” He drawled; that cat who got the cream look reminding me he’d raised three daughters and considered me a surrogate third.

“ _This is gonna stay between us; right?_ ” I asked hesitantly; knowing Charlie sometimes went drinking with my dad, and this is the **exact** sort of shit I’d expect them to give each other a heads up about.

“ _Hey; who you choose to spend your Friday nights with is none of my business_.” Charlie stated, raising his hands up in mock surrender, and I reminded myself that Charlie _had raised three daughters;_ and that probably meant he was well used to secret boyfriends, and probably had a much more lax opinion on them from my dad.

“ _Thanks Charlie._ ” I managed a smile as I picked up a grease rag, fiddling with it like it was a token, because Charlie wasn’t gonna rat me out.

I walked into the back of the shop, where work was already well underway.

Johnny was half wedged under the jacked up mustang, working on the wheel axels or something equally laborious which I should probably be doing on Marty’s truck.

He caught sight on me, sliding out slightly from beneath the chassis to speak to me.

“ ** _So?_** ” He asked; the word phrased more like a statement, but I had no idea what about.

“ _So what?_ ” I countered, already setting up beside Marty’s truck, ready to resume business as usual.

“ _How was it?_ ” He asked; his eyes stopping at the revealed parts of my skin, and I pulled the collar up on my jacket, deciding I wasn’t warm enough quite yet to go without.

_“I don’t know what you’re talking about...”_ I began to use denial as a stable defence; already guessing what Johnny was getting at and deciding it was none of his business.

“ _Come on; don’t play dumb._ ” Johnny whined, still refusing to drop the subject and play detective with Charlie’s Stang, rather than my sex life.

“ _Johnny; I really think you should check your sources..._ ” I continued to plead innocent, pulling out a wrench because the sooner I got under the hood of this pick up, the sooner I’d escape Johnny’s relentless questioning.

“ _Take off the dam jacket._ ” Ordered Charlie, _and really he was in no position to be making any requests of me._

“ _Johnny; you’re being ridiculous..._ ” I argued, popping open the truck’s hood in the vain hope he’d give up.

“ _It’s just a jacket; Lola...”_ He reasoned; _though I honestly thought he was being far from reasonable._

“ _This is stupid_...” I continued to gripe, because **_fuck it; when did Johnny become such a hard ass._**

“Just take the damn jacket off.” He yelled, and I knew if this went on any longer; Charlie would be out here, and we both be sentenced to scrubbing used car parts for the next week.

So I gave in, pulling the jacket off my shoulders, very aware of the near gallery of love bites and bruises Billy had left painted across my skin.

Johnny let out a low admiring whistle, clearly in awe of the number Billy had managed to do with my pretty pale flesh.

“ ** _Jesus; that boy really doesn’t mess around, does he?_** ” He commented; a wide smile across his face, because **_of course_** _; beneath it all, all men could be reduced to a less than metaphorical_ ** _dick measuring contest_** _when it came to sexual conquest._

“ _No; he doesn’t. So if you could damn well shut up about it...”_ I snapped, shoving my jacket on top of the car, because **_fuck it; everyone had seen my hickeys now_** _, so why the hell should I bother with hiding them._

“ _Hey; that’s fine with me..._ ” Johnny conceded, finally getting back to work beneath Charlie’s Mustang, **but god; did I wish his mouth’d stop working!**

“ _S’about time you got laid. You were getting a real bitch to deal with—“_

He didn’t have time to finish that sentence; me hurtling an oily rag straight into his face.

It hit its mark; the sudden look of surprise, then disgust when he realised just what had landed in his open mouth almost worth all the grilling.

I laughed; Johnny pulling the rag out and chucking it away from him with great disgust.

I turned my attention back to Marty’s truck, sticking my head beneath the hood with a smirk on my face, because _maybe I was in a better mood._

_What me and Billy had couldn’t_ **_possibly_ ** _last,_ **_but did it really have to?_ **

_Couldn’t we just enjoy it for what it is now and worry about the consequences later?_


	26. Chapter Twenty Six - Open Season

So **_maybe_** today had passed slower than most days at Charlie’s, but that had **_everything_** to do with the fact that replacing brake pads was a bitch of a task to do, _and_ ** _nothing_** _to do with the fact that every waking minute waiting for Billy felt_ ** _like an hour._**

_I mean; I couldn’t stop grinning the whole time like an idiot, but that wasn’t because of Billy._ **_I was just happy and shit; and..._ **

**_Fuck; who the hell was I kidding?_ **

_Billy had managed to turn me into a giggling school girl by just asking me on a date._

_It was_ **_stupid_ ** _, and_ **_dumb_ ** _, and_ **_childish_ ** _; but_ **_fuck, if I wasn’t the happiest girl in Hawkins right now._ **

Even the fact I had to strip and replace the rotors by hand couldn’t put a damper on things; the black grease that coated my arms up to the elbows, a minor setback on what otherwise could’ve been the perfect day.

Magic By The Cars was playing on the radio, and I hummed along with it happily; hands steadily working at tightening some callipers beneath the truck whilst my mind was half a world away; daydreaming of sun kissed smiles and bright blue eyes.

I heard some heavy footsteps by my legs, and my heart immediately skipped a beat.

It could’ve easily just been Johnny come to make another half assed joke about the limited reach of my arms, but I could still hear his angle grinder halfway across the shop.

I couldn’t keep a smile from my face, because _damnit; he was early,_ but I wasn’t gonna complain. He’d been occupying my thoughts all day, _and I_ ** _couldn’t wait_** _to get in his car and..._

My train of thought got cut short as a foot landed on the bottom of my creeper board, right between my legs, then began to slowly roll me out from under the car.

**“ _I thought we agreed six thirty_...”** I protested as I lowered my tools to get a good look at him, _even though the protest was more token than anything else._

Excitement and something deeper coiled in my stomach as my head surfaced from beneath the chassis, then dropped away like a pile of bricks at the last moment.

_There was pretty boy standing at the foot of my board, hands on his hips waiting for me to emerge,_ but not the one I’d been expecting.

“ _Steve..?”_ I said; the word halfway between a question and a statement as I took in the familiar sight of too high hair and luxury sports casual.

“ _And kid I don’t know...”_ I continued; my eyes trailing from the figure of my best friend, to a kid about three heads shorter, but with enough curls to match Steve in hair height, if not for that stupid hat.

**_Since when had Steve taken up babysitting?_ **

“ _Not that I don’t appreciate the visit, but why the hell are you here?_ ” I asked; pretty sure I hadn’t agreed to do anything with Steve tonight, and very concerned that my two prospective pretty boys might run into one another and start shit again.

Steve looked at the kid for a sec; a look of uncertainty passing over his face, and I began to wonder exactly what brand of shit he’d managed to drag himself into.

There was no way in hell that Steve would be here for any other reason than a service on a weekend.

**That** , or maybe there was something serious on his mind, _but then why the hell was the kid here?!_

“ _You got a minute._..” Steve asked, and though I probably should’ve refused considering the insane amount of overtime I was supposed to be doing anyway, Steve looked concerned, and I owed enough to him these past couple of weeks that I should be there when he needed me.

“ _Yeah. Sure._ ” I agreed, putting down my tools on the floor beside me.

Steve held up an open hand, and I took it, allowing him to pull me to my feet with minimal struggle. I grabbed the rag off the truck’s hood, wiping the grease from my arms before asking;

“ ** _So do you wanna do this in the car?_** ”

——————————————————-

**_This was insane._ **

**_I had to be dreaming_** _. I must’ve breathed in too many gas fumes back at the shop, and I was currently unconscious, because there was_ ** _no way_** **_any_** _of what Steve just told me was true._

“ ** _So let me get this straight...”_** I said; my voice still not managing not to drip with incredulousness as I sat in the middle of the backseat of Steve’s BMW, the chassis vibrating slightly as we tore down deep county roads. 

“ _You decided it was a good idea to go into some_ ** _creepy old basement_** _..._ ” I began, my eyes immediately fixing on one Steve Harrington, who I _honestly believed_ was some sort of realistic hallucination, because _I still didn’t buy a second of his bullshit story._

“ _Because some kid who’s friends with_ ** _Nancy’s brother_** _told you there was some monster down there?”_ I continued; my attention switching to the kid in question sat in the passenger seat who I now knew was called Dustin; and played _Dnd or something_ with Mike Wheeler.

“ ** _Not thought. There was_** _. I trapped it down there._ ” Corrected... _Dustin_ , spinning round in his seat to see me, _and hold on;_ ** _why did the twelve year old get to ride shotgun?_**

I spun my focus back to Steve, unwilling to have a debate on what was **real** and what was **imaginary** with a **literal child.**

“ _Okay. So you went down there, planning to do_ ** _Christ knows what_** _, but it had already escaped and left behind its_ ** _skin_** _..._ ” I continued to repeat what I’d been told; a mixture of disgust and disbelief colouring my words, _because if this was some kind of practical joke; it was_ ** _gross_** _and Steve was_ ** _so dea—_**

“ ** _Yes; yes._** **_I know_** _; I thought it sounded crazy too._ ” Steve interrupted; his voice filled with chargrin, as if my disbelief was something he’d expected, but really didn’t have the patience to deal with; _and maybe Steve wasn’t making this shit up._

“ _So now we’re going to ki—_ “ I continued; only to be interrupted by the kid.

“ ** _Ah, ah, ah..._** ” He interjected; because this so called “ _baby demogorgon_ ” had been his pet; **_and what kind of fucking idiot takes a look at a fucking demonic slug and thinks it’s cute?!_**

I sighed, restraint wearing thin, before continuing my train of thought before the kid had a chance at raising any more _helpful_ observations.

“ _And we’re going to catch this thing with a nail bat and some pastrami;_ ** _and how exactly was this plan meant to work?”_** I trailed off into a question, because although Steve wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, I’d at least expected something a little better than _lure it in with lunch meat then hit it over the head with a baseball bat._

“ _It’s the best I could come up with on short notice...”_ Steve defended himself; sounding less than convinced on his “ ** _master plan_** ”.

“ _Besides not all of us are the spawn of_ ** _Sonny & Rico...”_** He began to make a cheap cop joke about my dad; only for the child mega mouth on legs to come _flying_ in with another comment.

“ ** _Wait; you’re the Chief’s daughter?!”_** The kid exclaimed as if it **wasn’t** one of the most well known facts of the town.

“ _Yeah_...” I replied, before quickly returning to the conversation at hand, _because_ ** _usually_** _when people got worked up about my dad; it was for_ ** _one of three reasons_** _, and considering this was a twelve year old boy I was talking about;_ ** _it probably wasn’t about being stood up at the movies._**

“ ** _Wow; that’s wicked awesome._** _You know; I hadn’t even realised, but now that I think about it—“_ _The ki..._ ** _Dustin_** began to ramble again,; _and hero worship it was_ , but I really didn’t have time for this.

“ _That’s great, kid; but can we go back to the fact that_ ** _there’s a baby monster who might possibly try to kill us!_** ” Steve interrupted before I got the chance, ending up near yelling at the kid; and I was finally beginning to believe that this all wasn’t a hoax.

“ _Back to your plan...”_ I restarted; knowing now would be a good time to get this show back on the road before I had to break up a cage match between an annoyingly dumb brunette and an equally annoying child genius, who _still_ wasn’t smart enough to follow basic horror movie logic.

“ _Harrington; this is half baked, even for you._ ” I stated matter-of-factly; Steve not at all deflated against my slight insult.

“ _I’m open to suggestions._ ” Steve admitted with a sigh, not knowing that was the _exact_ opening I was waiting for.

“ _And I’m open for business..._ ” I countered with a grin, leaning forward between the seats, _because Steve Harrington may be a noble dunce when it comes to well thought through plans,_ ** _but I was a Hopper; and if there was one thing a Hopper could do, it was battle strategy._**

“ _Take a left up on ninth._ ” I instructed; Steve taking the turning without argument , because he trusted my judgment when it came to this sort of shit.

_If we were gonna take down this fucker; we were gonna need_ **_meat, lots and lots of meat._ **


	27. Chapter Twenty Seven - Code Red

“ _If that little shit says code fucking red_ ** _one more time_** _; I swear I’m gonna—“_

“ ** _Woah, woah, woah_** _; Lo! Cool your jets_.” Soothes Steve, though at this rate I’d settle at punching him unconscious.

If it wasn’t enough that I spent a weeks worth of pay checks on diced beef, _because despite having a wallet that cost more than my_ ** _entire wardrobe, someone_** _forgot to bring his allowance_ ; I now was having to deal with all the joys of working with a twelve year old boy.

Sorry; **_thirteen_** , as he keeps reminding me.

_Thank god Eleven was a girl!_

But at least we had some semblance of a plan now; Steve’s BMW parked in the woods at the start of our carnivorous crumb trail that would eventually lead to the junkyard.

Steve popped the trunk of his car; rubber gloves already on hands, _because of course; the pretty boy couldn’t get his hands bloody._

The scent of blood and death was strong within; the result of nearly ten pounds worth of prized sirloin chopped in buckets, _because according to the little shit; his ex-pet was a fussy eater._

Steve did the honours; hauling out two heaping buckets of meat which were already beginning to smell thanks to the heat of the car.

“ _Jesus, Lola; do we really need this much meat?_ He asked; his nose wrinkled in disgust.

_Apparently I’d forgotten that a pampered trust fund teen like Steve probably never even had to wash dishes; let alone do any meal prep with raw meat._

“ _Shut up and unload the trunk_.” I ordered; not willing to take any of his crap.

It had been **his** damn idea to put his faith in the _wild imaginations_ of a thirteen year old, **not mine**.

I would’ve been more than happy to stay at Charlie’s and finish fixing Marty’s truck, then go out with Bil—

**Shit! I’d almost forgot!**

Billy would be coming to pick me up in a couple of hours, and I was currently about to start traipsing through mulch and animal shit, spreading the contents of a corpse with Steve and some weird kid.

**_Of all the fucking excuses I could be giving him_ ** _; this one_ **_really_ ** _took the whole damn pie!_

Even if I did manage to make it back in time; he’d never believe me.

Not even when I stunk like a butchers shop and felt half as dead.

_Steve was gonna fucking owe me for this—_

“ ** _Lo; you still with me?_** ” Steve asked; breaking through my mental rant to try and play the reasonable friend, and I wanted to fucking read him out, because I’d lost out on a good damn night for this and maybe even lost my chance at being with Billy for good; _but fuck, Steve didn’t know that._

_And I couldn’t blame him; not really._

“ _Nothing. Just forgot if I’d left the stove on._ ” I replied; the absurdity of that statement going straight over Steve’s pretty head as he pulled his rucksack out of the boot, alongside several cans of gasoline, unknowingly kindly donated by Charlie’s auto repairs.

Steve pulled out his nailbat; a post-apocalyptic beast of a thing that actually had belonged to Jonathan, before it was valiantly commandeered by Steve in the demogorgon attack last year.

Now it seemed the enigmatically named nailbat man was to make a reappearance; all for the sake of avenging some dumb kid’s cat and a half eaten candy bar.

I, however, liked to keep things more practical; having made time to stop home during our little errand to pick up a most vital supply.

I pulled out my dad’s sawn off shotgun from the trunk; making sure this baby was loaded with the finest buckshot, before cocking it.

Steve can wave round that little tennis racket as much as he liked; meanwhile I’d blow this bitch to smithereens with pure homegrown American lead.

Steve looked at it with a mixture of apprehension and awe, still not comfortable with me bringing a loaded weapon, despite me having learnt how to shoot before I could even drive.

He’d get over it.

Fuck; he might even be thankful once we bring this overgrown slug down without even breaking a sweat.

I let him slam the trunk closed, and by the sounds of it, _E.T. was_ ** _finally_** _done phoning home_ ; Dustin pushing down that ridiculous antenna at last, before the Venusians tried to contact us on it.

“ _You gonna actually help any time today kid, or is your plan just to play operator whilst we do the real work?_ ” I queried; picking up the first of the heavy metal buckets in front of me.

“ _Alright, alright; hold your fucking horses. I’m coming._ ” The kid placated, and maybe I should’ve said something about the language, but then again; I wasn’t exactly a saint, and I wasn’t the kid’s mother, _so why the fuck should I care?_

Instead, I stood back as he picked up the lightest of the buckets, leaving the heaviest for Steve, _but you know what_ ; **let him**.

_It was_ **_Steve’s damn sympathie_ ** _s that got us into this mess; so let’s see him feel so sympathetic when he’s done_ **_spreading meat for the next two hours._ **

———————————————————

So _maybe_ playing pied piper to a B movie creature feature wasn’t as **mind numbingly boring** as I’d thought it would be.

I mean; the company _was_ decent, me and Steve wasting the time away by playing twenty one questions and talking with the kid.

Think of it as community service; us near adults taking the time out from our busy lives to give back to the younger generation.

_Of course; I’d also forgotten how_ **_blatantly dumb_ ** _boys of the younger generation could be._

“ _All right; so let me get this straight...”_ Drawled the voice of Steve as he trailed behind keeping pace with the kid; after refusing to keep step with me.

It’s not my fault; really. He’d dropped a question on cannibalism on me, and I’d rose to the challenge beautifully; managing to both freak him out and educate him in one answer; a finer achievement than any teacher at Hawkins High had ever managed.

“ _You kept something dangerous in order to impress a girl..._ ** _who you just met?_** ” Steve asked with such incredulousness, you’d almost forget this is the same kid who took up football in freshman year just to impress Kathy Williams; an _absolute disaster_ which ended with him getting tackled by a senior quarterback and him spending two weeks in Hawkins Med with a broken arm.

_Still got that date with Kathy though._

“ _Alright; that’s grossly oversimplifying things..._ ” The kid objected, because pigheaded stupidity was a _primaril_ y male trait with symptoms that included _complete denial_ when it came to pursuing the fairer sex.

“ _I mean; why would a girl like some nasty slug anyway?_ ” Steve asked; the question perfectly rational, but clearly absurd in the eyes of a thirteen year old.

“ ** _An interdimensional slug?!_** _Because it’s awesome_!” Dustin exclaimed, _and I swear the nerd levels here were sweeping off the chart._

“ _Lola; would you like it if I showed you a slug?”_ Steve called ahead to me, finally breaking his selective silence to ask an **actual female** about their kind.

_Still; didn’t mean I was gonna give him all the answers._

“ _I’m not going anywhere near_ ** _you_** _or your slug, Steve._ ” I retorted; still not managing to contain a chuckle. **_Yes; that was an innuendo_** , and Steve was probably rolling his eyes right now, but fuck; if I didn’t like winding him up.

“ _Well; even if she thought it was cool,_ ** _which she didn’_** _t... I... I just... I don’t know.”_ Steve reasoned with a sigh, forgoing all attempts to get me on side, because I was a petty bitch and still wasn’t quite over when he asked me about bra size.

“ _I just feel like you’re trying_ ** _way_** _too hard, man._ ” Steve confessed, chucking down another handful of meat with resigned indignation.

“ _Well; not everyone can have your_ ** _perfect hair_** _, alright..._ ” Dustin griped, and I could barely contain my laughter, _because was I the only one who fucking remembered?!_

“ ** _Perfect?!_** ” I scoffed; the word half hidden in a bout of laughter. “ _You should’ve seen him in the eighth grade!_ ** _He looked like the fourth Beegee!_** ” I exclaimed with thunderous laughter, **because it was true; goddamnit!**

_Steve’s hair had been_ **_so goddamn hilarious_ ** _, and just remembering it now brought back flashbacks of the Snow Ball; memories of crisp white suits straight out of Saturday Night Fever, and a_ **_much_ ** _younger Steve Harrington busting a move on the dance floor like a barely pubescent John Travolta._

Steve didn’t find it funny, shooting me daggers that clearly said “ _shut the hell up_ ”, despite the fact his embarrassment would only rile me up further.

“ _Anyway; it’s not about the hair._..” He returned his attention to Dustin, _clearly_ understanding that giving me evils was getting him nowhere.

“ _The key with girls is just... acting like you don’t care_.” Steve bestowed his worldly piece of wisdom, and I could barely keep myself from _rolling my eyes_.

_Yeah; because_ **_of course_ ** _the girls liked Steve because he acted like_ **_a total douche_ ** _, and not because they thought he was dumber than a sack of dirt and didn’t know any better._

**_The hair was a bonus though._ **

“ _Even if you do?_ ” The kid asked innocently; and it was hard to believe that all twelve year olds took advice so easily.

“ _Yeah; exactly. It drives them nuts._ ” Steve said; and I had to stop them there.

_This kid was_ **_no_ ** _Steve Harrington and would probably end up dying alone if he followed Steve’s example._

**_Fuck; Steve might end up dying alone with a shovel to the back of the head if he kept pissing me off like this._ **

“ ** _Or_** _he could just tell this girl how he_ ** _actually feels_** _, rather than acting all emotionally constipated about it; Steve..._ ” I interrupted; offering an realistically sound piece of advice, _which might end up with the girl_ ** _actually liking the kid,_** _rather than mistaking him for the douche of the century;_ ** _who was clearly already walking among us._**

“ _Don’t listen to her.._.” Steve dismissed my advice with a wave of the hand, and this time, **I really did roll my eyes.**

“ _Why?_ ** _Because I’m a girl?_** ” I countered smartly; as if sound logic ever meant more to Steve than macho grand standing.

**_“No; because you’re a psychopath...”_** Steve replies, tossing a handful of meat at me, as if I was a mischievous bitch that could be fended off with a scrap of food.

**_“Hey!”_** I exclaimed; nimbly leaping out of the line of fire before I could amass another interesting stain on my jacket.

“ _You know; I liked you better with your headphones on, Blondie..._ ” Steve drawled; his attention fully averted from counsel giving, to our usually programmed showing of me and Steve acting like **complete** jackasses around each other.

“ ** _And I liked you better in Wham!; George..._** ” I retorted; knowing how much Steve hated the smarmy pop band, despite Nancy’s insistence that they were gorgeous.

“ _Why don’t you come back here._..” Steve began to bluster; picking up another handful of bloody meat with a mischievous smile on his face, but it was too late.

I was quicker than him, already dancing away further along the track, before slipping on my headphones; because despite being a slippery bitch, I was a good girl and sometimes decided to appease our _noble king_ ; if only for an easy time.

I hit play on my Walkman; happy to hear the starting notes of Heart Of Glass chiming into my ear canals.

I turned it up loud and proud to sing along; resolved that if Steve and the kid wanted boy time, they could have it, but I would be as much of a nuisance as possible.

**_“Once I had a love and it was a gas_ **

**_Soon found out he had a heart of glass_ **

**_Seemed like the real thing, only to find_ **

**_Much of mistrust; love’s gone behind.”_ **


	28. Chapter Twenty Eight - Boys Will Be Boys

The junkyard was pretty much what the name implied; a big stretch of land heaped up with shit that was better left forgotten by time.

I came here with Charlie sometimes to find scrap parts for old cars; usually just found scrap instead.

Everyone knew that the decent scrapyards were out Wyoming way.

_Still; the kid had done an alright job, all things considered._

It was pretty defensible as a base, and the school bus looked like it could hold out against nuclear war, and probably was designed that way if the history books were anything to go by.

I could already see some decent scrap we could use as a barricade, and with a little elbow grease; we might even be able to improvise some traps.

_“Oh yeah; this will do. This will do just fine._ ” Steve spoke my thoughts out loud, clearly on the same wavelength when it came to finding a defensible home base.

“ _Good call; kid.”_ I praised Dustin, earning me one of those toothy smiles, and I hoped some of my dad’s hero worship wasn’t rubbing off on me.

——————————————————

The best of half an hour was spent spreading round the rest of the meat; only a minimal amount of it ending up being flung at each other, because as much as I liked horsing around with Steve; I valued my innards more, and didn’t want to come across as a tasty snack for a hungry demogorgon.

Our efforts ended with us heaping the dregs of our buckets in a pile in the middle of the junkyard, creating what we’d hope would look like an all you can eat buffet to any unsuspecting monster, and the perfect ambush spot to us.

**_“I said medium-well!”_** A voice yelled from across the junkyard, and Steve, Dustin and I all looked in its direction.

Two kids and a shiny new racer bike were heading our way with painfully eager expressions, **_and I wondered when me and Steve signed up to be counselors at Camp Shitstain?!_**

“ _Who’s that?”_ Steve asked, because he was still painfully dumb, and we were probably gonna have to fix that, but not till I sorted out that look on Dustin’s face.

Steve may have been an idiot, but to me it was glaringly obvious that the redheaded girl on the back of that bike was the object of his affections.

And if the way his face sunk harder than the Titanic was a signifier of his feelings; it looks like Red was already smitten with her speed racer.

“ _Hey kid; you wanna talk with your friend for a bit? Cos if you want I can keep Red busy?_ ” I asked, giving Dustin an out if he wanted, because there was clearly a discussion that needed to be had here, and it was probably best if the lady in question was out of the picture for that.

“ _Yeah; that would be good, actually_.” Dustin replied, probably sounding the most grown up he had since I’d joined this this party.

“ _Alright. You just leave this to me._ ” I reassured him, giving him a hard pat on the shoulder, before approaching the young redhead girl.

“ ** _Hey Red; can you give me a hand?_** ”

——————————————————-

So Little Miss Lovetriangle was actually a big help, but maybe it was because at least someone around here wasn’t worried about getting her hands messy.

It did also help that I knew all about unwillingly being the rope in a testosterone filled game of tug of war.

The kid didn’t even seem to have an interest in the boys; and I was _really_ gonna have to start learning names, because Dipshits One and Two and Red were really not suitable names in a crisis.

Right now; me and Red were busy melding corrugated metal sheets to the bus in a last ditch attempt at armour playing against demogorgons, whilst the two boys were still playing therapist, and Steve was off _god knows where_ doing _god knows what._

It was almost poetic; really. The two females of the group doing all the heavy lifting whilst the men were too busy bickering and being emotional.

Still; someone had to do it, and me and Red were down to our last sheet.

“ _On the count of three._ ** _One. Two. Three._** ” I instructed, before we managed to bend sheet metal around the front corner of the bus by hand.

It took some elbow grease, but we still managed to do it, and fuck; if I wasn’t proud of our work, creating our own Firt Knox outta scrap metal and chicken wire.

“ _Great work; kid!_ ” I praised her; reaching out for a fist bump, which she eagerly returned.

I wiped the beading of sweat on my forehead, taking in what would hopefully hold us safely until Steve and I could figure out a way to kill a mutant lizard.

“ _You know; I never actually got your name?”_ I asked the girl; because it was probably rude of me to just call her Red this entire time.

“ _Max. Max Mayfield._ ” The girl replied, holding out a sweaty palm to shake.

“ _Lola. Lola Hopper._ ” I offered the same in return, taking her hand and shaking it firmly.

“ _You know; it’s funny..._ ” Max smiled with withheld laughter, still shaking my hand.

“ _What’s funny?_ ” I asked, letting go of her hand with a smile.

“ _My older brother goes_ ** _on and on_** _about this girl he knows called Lola..._ ” She continued; that smile turning into a full on smirk, that sparked my curiosity.

“ _Well; what’s his name? Maybe I know him?_ ” I asked, my interest officially peaked, and my mind now scanning for any fiery redheads I knew of.

“ ** _Billy_**.” She stated; and I felt the bottom suddenly drop out of my stomach.

_She couldn’t be talking about him; could she?_

“ _Billy? Billy Hargrove?_ ” I asked; the question a near mimic of his own introduction to me, though with far more apprehension.

“ _Yeah. Know him?_ ” Max nodded; clearly not picking up on my uneasiness with the topic, _because did Billy really talk about me at home?_

“ _Yeah. I know him.”_ I replied, not giving anything away with my answer, as there was no real way of knowing what bullshit Billy spurted about me behind closed doors.

“ ** _But you can’t possibly be that Lola._**..” Max scoffed; a small smile of incredulity crossing her face. “ _You’re not—_ “

_“A dumb blonde with tits bigger than my head?”_ I asked; having already perfectly painted a mental picture of Billy’s usual type, and knowing that I didn’t fit the bill in the slightest.

“ ** _You are that Lola!_** _Jesus; Wow!_ ” She exclaimed; and for once I was hopeful that the gossip Billy was saying about me might at least hold a slither of truth.

“ _You are_ ** _so_** _not what I expected._ ” Max stated, leaning down to help me pick up another piece of metal, and I began to wonder what exactly she’d expected me to be like?

_Probably a stuck up, slutty bitch who’d look more in place on a poster in Billy’s room then digging through trash in a junk yard._

_Hope I wasn’t a disappointment._

“ _I’ll take that as a compliment._ ” I shrugged, deciding that if she’d expected what I think she expected; I was glad I was a big fucking surprise.

“ ** _Oh; yeah, totally!_** ” Max nodded in agreement; clearly getting exactly what train of thought I was riding on, and deciding I was the polar opposite of it.

“ _I mean; I just can’t quite believe it.._.” She continued; her face a mixture of awe and disbelief as we continued to work on our barricade. “ _You seem so cool, and Billy’s a—“_

“ _Total dick.”_ I finished off the sentence for her, not at all surprised that find Billy’s own sibling thought he was a douchebag.

_Maybe I really was the first to see a different side to him._

“ _Hey; you said it, not me._ ” She held up her arms in surrender, as if she was worried the shadow of Billy would fall over her at any given minute.

But still; it wasn’t denial.

Then we both started laughing, because sometimes it was so damn refreshing to spend some time around another woman; budding as she may be, and I began to think maybe I should introduce her to El.

_Of course; that would open a whole new can of worms with dad’s trust issues and secrecy laws._

“ _Hey; but aren’t you and Billy supposed to be..._ ” She halted our laughing, creasing her red eyebrows in confusion.

**_So Billy did talk about me._ **

_That, or maybe we were louder than I thought; in which case, I probably owed this kid an apology._

_And some ear plugs._

I shook my head in refusal, trying my best to keep from smiling, because dick or not; thinking of Billy made me a little giddy.

“ _No. Nothing serious; we’re just...”_

“ ** _Oh my god! You are!_** ” She exclaimed; and I was becoming very aware that Steve could be back at any minute.

“ _We’re not even dating...”_ I continued to explain, but kids heard what they wanted to hear, and this one wanted some sort of decent payoff for putting up with a _shitstain_ of a brother.

“ ** _You are far too cool for my brother; Lola Hopper._** ” Max praised, and somehow, her brand of hero worship was one I didn’t really mind.

“ ** _Hey; are those shitbirds helping you?_** ” An uncharacteristically severe voice of one Steve Harrington interrupted our female bonding; the man in question coming into view with two folding chairs in hand.

“ _Steve; really, we’re fine..._ ” I began to excuse, really not finding the idea of playing troop leader for a misfit troop of Boy Scouts appealing, but Steve was already well on his way marching over to the car the boys were not so subtly hiding behind.

“ _Jesus; is he always like this?_ ” Max asked, chuckling at a rather fatherly Steve Harrington, busy lecturing two rather somber looking surrogate sons; completed with a complimentary hand on hip and finger waggle, _as if he couldn’t take the metaphor far enough._

“ _You know; believe it or not, he’s actually pretty chilled normally._ ” I commented, smiling at how the boys suddenly started working double time under their “ _dad’s_ ” direct supervision.

**_Daddy Steve._ **

**_Jesus; what a joke!_ **


	29. Chapter Twenty Nine - Bait

It took another forty minutes to get this trash heap battle ready; most of our time spent turning the bus into a makeshift bomb shelter to withstand the wrath of some inter dimensional creature that, lets not forget, we weren’t even sure actually existed.

At least Steve had finally managed to get the boys to pitch in, though they’re idea of helping seemed more like arguing over petty shit that really could wait till later; maybe after we weren’t counting down the seconds to a monster attack.

Still; me and Steve had managed to corral the troops onto the bus, and pour a gasoline trail from the door to the meat pile to guarantee we can light up this fucker like a barbecue with minimal risk to the kids.

Now all that was left to do was wait, something that was easier said than done considering keeping the kids calm and on the bus was like herding toddlers, but not because they were nervous.

The kids seemed far too eager for this show to start; as if it was one big fucking game of laser tag rather than a potential life and death situation.

Despite the risk and the newfound responsibility; me and Steve remained pretty damn calm all things considered.

We were sat on the bus seats next to each other; my feet propped in his lap and my shotgun nestled in my arms, looking very ma and pa for two ragtag teenagers waiting on a monster battle.

Steve kept fiddling with my lighter, flicking it on and off in a visible nervous tick that disrupted the illusion of coolheaded leader.

Across the aisle, Max sat alone, watching us with contemplative eyes, as if us being here at all confused her.

_“So you thought one of these things before?_ ” She asked; no disbelief in her voice, just interest.

“ _Yup_.” Steve confirmed nonchalantly, popping the p with insane casualness as if we were talking about the weather or something.

“ _And you’re like; totally one hundred percent sure it wasn’t a bear_?” She continued to question, and _look; there was that disbelief I was waiting on._

_“If it was; it was a pretty fucking freaky looking bear then._ ” I chirped, though my words fell flat; coming out clipped and tense.

“ _Shit. Don’t be an idiot, okay? It wasn’t a bear.”_ Interrupted Dustin from the back of the bus, finally breaking his silent sulking.

It seemed the kid still hadn’t gotten over the fact he might lose her to his best friend, and decided that the right person to be mad at was her; rather than his romantic rival sat on the roof.

“ _Why are you even here if you don’t believe us?_ ” He continued to spit, rising from his seat to walk up to her face on.

“ _Just go home._ ” He barked, and I kinda wished he had that kind of confidence in the first place; would’ve saved him a lot of heartache if he’d just confronted her about his feelings all along.

“ _Sheesh! Someone’s cranky. Past your bedtime?_ ” She retorted sharply, before getting up from her seat and climbing up the ladder to the roof.

_Poor girl. She didn’t even know why Dustin was so mad; had no idea of the massive crush on her._

**_Why did boys have to be so damn constipated when it came to feelings?_ **

_Fuck; if I knew._

“ _That’s good. Just show her you don’t care.”_ Steve praised Dustin, and I had to hold off slapping him around the back of the head, because **_really?! That’s what he got from this?!_**

_“I don’t_.” Dustin replied, already pacing up and down the bus, and I was beginning to think I’d missed a big part of the picture back in the woods; because when did this become Steve’s advice?!

“ ** _I’m sorry; did I miss something?_** ” I asked; mainly directing my question at Steve.

If we survived this we were gonna have a serious question at setting an example for the kids, and **_Jesus; I was sounding like a mother again!_**

“ _No. Nope. Nothing._ ” Steve lied blatantly, **_and believe me_** _when I say Steve was a terrible liar._

We were _so_ having this conversation when this was over...

**_And why the hell was Steve winking at Dustin?_ **

“ _Why are you winking Steve? Stop_.” Dustin spoke my thoughts, _because at least_ ** _someone_** _here had some emotional maturity; even if that person was thirteen; and_ ** _Jesus; Steve was doing it again!_**

“ ** _Enough, Steve._** ” I instructed, holding the lighter shut whilst I was at it, because Steve was becoming annoying, and I don’t think I could go the rest of the night without braining him if he kept this up.

———————————————-

So I managed to make Steve settle down and not act like a _complete_ child, meanwhile the actual child was still pacing up and down like an elderly war widow, and my other charges were up top, probably sucking face if Max was anywhere near as petty as I wa—

**Fuck! And not in a good way.**

An ear piercing shriek that was somewhere between Godzilla and the Queen Xenomorph in Alien echoed across from the other side of the junkyard.

Steve, Dustin and I immediately got to our feet, making our way over to where we left some strategic gaps in the barricades on the bus windows.

Steve and I got there first, peering through at what appeared to be a completely deserted junkyard; mist rolling out over the metal skeletons of cars.

“ _You see him?_ ” Dustin asked; peering over our shoulders to try and take a look.

“ _No_.” Steve replied, eyes still scanning over the landscape outside.

“ ** _Lucas; what’s going on?!_** ” Dustin yelled upstairs way louder than I’d like, making Steve and I both grimace with disapproval.

“ ** _Hold on!_** ” The other kid- _no;_ ** _Lucas_** _,_ yelled back.

We waited on baited breath for our elected lookout to put his binoculars to good use.

“ ** _I’ve got eyes. Ten o’clock._** ” Lucas instructed, and I immediately swivelled my head to the left, my eyes scanning for a sign of—

“ _There_.” I pointed, honing in on a shadowy doglike figure on the outskirts of the junkyard.

“ _What’s he doing_?” Dustin asked, leaning in real close, because apparently this kid knew nothing about personal space.

_“I don’t know.”_ I replied, trying to make out more of the suspect demogorgon, but unable to see much else in the shadows.

The demogor— _Dart_ , began walking towards the pile of meat; slowly and cautiously like a stray dog, and if not for the starkly reptilian colouring, I could be convinced he was one.

He stalked closer and closer to the meat, and for the time being, it looked like our plan would work and we’d have bagged this sucker before curfew.

_Thirty feet... then twenty... then fifteen... and then ten.... and_

**Stop**.

Dart just stopped dead in his tracks, like he suspected something was up, _but that was impossible; that would mean he..._

“ _He’s not taking the bait. Why is he not taking the bait?”_ Steve asked; a slight hint of panic edging on his voice as he voiced the question we were all thinking.

“ _Maybe he’s not hungry_.” Dustin suggested, surprisingly calm, all things considered.

“ _Or maybe he’s sick of cow._ ” I said; reality dawning upon me, because **_of course! The demogorgon didn’t want to be fed; it wanted to hunt!_** _That meant it needed—_

“ _Steve; what are you doing?_ ” I asked, watching as he got to his feet and began stripping off his jacket.

“ _Helping_.” Steve stated matter-of-factly as he swiped up his nailbat with one hand.

“ _Steve; where are you going?_ ” Dustin began to panic; alarmed that our all star quarterback seemed to be making a break for the outside world.

Steve didn’t answer, already making his way to the front of the bus.

I followed him, grabbing hold of my shotgun ready to hold him at gunpoint if it meant stopping him from doing something stupid.

“ _Steve; I’m not letting you do this..._ ” I objected, standing between him and the exit, because Steve was already a white knight; I didn’t need him to be a martyr.

“ _I’m not asking you to, Lo._ ” Steve countered, moving to step past me.

“ ** _Steve; this is suicide_**!” I argued, grabbing hold of his arm in an attempt to stop him.

_There was_ **_no way_ ** _I was letting him do this!_

“ _Then spot me from the roof.”_ He instructed, gently pushing my gun towards me, as if playing sniper was a good counteroffer for letting him play bait.

“ _Spot me from the roof!_ ” I scoffed, following as he went to open the door of the bus, because _no; he didn’t get to be a hero, whilst I sit with the kiddies like a good damsel._

“ ** _Steve Harrington; if you think for one minute I’m gonna sit pretty on the roof whilst that thing makes lunch meat out of you; you’re dumber than I thought..._** ” I lectured, positioning myself as a suitably pissed of human barricade between him and the door.

“ _Then what the hell do you expect me to do?”_ Steve asked; whining and protesting at me ruining his action movie moment.

“ _Let me come with you_.” I countered, because when Steve was in white knight mode; there was no way he was leaving it, but godammnit; I was coming for the ride.

Steve stared back at me; looking for an opening or an excuse, but I wouldn’t give him one.

I was Lola Fucking Hopper, and if anyone was gonna out-stubborn me it wasn’t gonna be a six foot pretty boy.

Then Steve relented, nodding in agreement at me, because dumb or not; he knew when he was beat.

He moved to open the door, when Dustin rushed up front; panic colouring his face and voice.

“ _Would_ ** _someone please_** _tell me what’s going on?!_ ” He asked, eyes flickering wildly between the two of us.

Steve gave me a look; one we’d shared a thousand times since we were kids.

It was the _we’re about to something painfully stupid and borderline dangerous_ look.

I loved that look.

“ _Get ready.”_ He said, turning his attention back to the kid with ominous words of wisdom.

He pulled my lighter out of his jeans pocket and tossed it towards Dustin.

Dustin clumsily caught it mid air, looking at it like it was a live hand grenade.

“ ** _Hey?! What am I supposed to do with this?”_** He panicked, but it was too late.

Me and Steve had already stepped off the bus and into the night.


	30. Chapter Thirty - Not My First Rodeo

The moment Steve’s sneakers hit the grass; you could feel the tension in the air change; a buzzing, almost electrical feeling whipping up my skin, like when a storm’s coming in and you can sense the change in air pressure.

I followed out after him; my boots noticeably lighter sounding despite their clunky design.

Slowly; step by step, we crept out in the open, already adopting the soldiers’ stance of bent knees and sharp eyes.

Dart let off a low chortle.

_A warning_. He knew we were after him.

I could see his hackles rising; a distinctly canine trait despite me knowing he was far from it.

Steve began to whistle; a cheery sharp sound more suited to calling a dog than a monster.

“ ** _Come on, buddy…_** _’_ He called, finishing it off with a series of whistles _just in case he didn’t seem crazy enough._

“ ** _Come here, fella. Good boy_.” **Steve cooed as we crept closer, eyes fixed on the suspicious looking creature.

“ _Steve; cut it out. It’s not a dog_.” I muttered under my breath, not entirely sure we should be treating this thing like a pet.

“ _Have you got any better ideas?_ ” He pointedly asked, still not taking his eyes off the demogorgon.

I sighed, knowing he was probably right; goddamnit!

“ ** _Here boy…_** ” I began to call, feeling every ounce the idiot as we cooed to a Lovecraftian horror like some puppy.

“ ** _Dinner time._** ” Steve coaxed it; and I tried not to think of the very real implications that we may end up in this thing’s stomach.

Dart continued to watch us, and I was beginning to wonder if this plan was gonna work at all.

“ ** _Aren’t you hungry, fella?”_** I asked; forcing a fake smile, because maybe this thing could read facial expressions.

“ ** _Human tasted better than cat; I promise…_** ” Steve continued to tempt it, edging closer and closer still.

Finally; Dart started to respond, slowly approaching us; strange flowerlike jaws snapping at us experimentally.

Steve whipped his bat in front of him, warding Dart off like a lion tamer and his beast.

“ _Have you got a shot?”_ Steve asked, focusing on the creature in front of us in case it decided to pounce.

“ _Almost…”_ I said, lining up a shot with my gun so I could see Dart in my crosshairs.

“ _Just a little further…_ ” I waited, because _the fucking thing wouldn’t move it’s head and I_ ** _needed_** _a damn headshot._

“ _Come on, come on…_ ” Muttered Steve, watching as the beast began to hesitate, almost as if it sensed my gun on him.

If it just moved left a little—

“ ** _Steve! Lola! Watch out_**!” Yelled Lucas from the top of the bus, but we didn’t have time to look.

“ ** _A little busy here!_** ” Replied Steve, not taking his eyes off Dart, because _goddamnit; we could see what it was doing! We didn’t need a—_

“ ** _Three o’clock! Three o’clock!_** ” Lucas yelled; and I turned my gun just in time to spot another demagorgon jump onto the hood of a junked car, hissing menacingly.

“ _Shit! You got that one?_ ” Steve asked, noticing the other demodog, but not moving his bat away from the first.

“ _It’s alright. I got it in my sights. You just watch the other one._ ” I reassured him, settling my crosshairs over the advancing creature.

“ ** _Steve! Lola!_** ” Yelled out the voice of Dustin, and I suddenly realised that must’ve meant he’d opened the bus door.

“ ** _Abort! Abort!_** ” He yelled from the doors; and **_goddamnit! This kid was gonna get himself killed!_**

Suddenly, I heard hissing, and before we knew it, Dart was making a leap at Steve.

I fired at him; aiming for the head, but in quarters as close as these, it was hard to see if it met its mark.

I think my shot went wide, then—

**_Fuck_**!

The other demodog came sailing towards me, and I was beginning to think this was it…

_Fuck me for watching out for Steve’s dumb a—_

**Shit!** I landed on the metal hood of a car with a thud; the metal cold and hard against my back.

I immediately pressed my gun up, ready to fend off whatever had landed on top of me, only to realise it was Steve.

I didn’t get time to thank him for the save before the Demodog took another leap at us, but Steve managed to take a swing at it.

Wood met flesh with a firm crack, and I think Steve must’ve broken one of that thing’s legs, but it still wasn’t dead _. I could fix that._

I lined up a shot with it quickly, before firing into its back.

It wasn’t a headshot, but I didn’t have time to check my kill, Steve already grabbing my arm to haul both our asses back to the bus where the kids were beckoning frantically in the doorway.

“ _Quick! Run! Run!”_ They yelled, and I swear the growls of the demagorgons had gotten louder, but I wasn’t about to stop and check.

We were almost at the door now, and I could literally feel the demagorgons snapping at our heels behind us.

We made a dive for the door, fully expecting not to make it and end up being dragged back by the ankles by a pack of vicious demagorgons.

Steve landed first; his heavier frame landed back first on the bus floor with a firm thump.

I came next, landing straight on top of him; hands quickly shooting out above him to stop myself from giving him a pretty debilitating headset.

Steve stared straight up at me; deep brown eyes sparkling with life and adrenaline, _and was it just me or had his pupils gotten larger?_

I smiled down at him, enjoying how he tensed beneath me, because _fuck; Steve was such a sub, and a pretty one_.

_Steve was always so very pretty; everyone thought so, and here on the floor of a junked bus, he was no different._

_Soft waves of brown hair spilling in a relative halo around his head, dumb pretty boy smile across his lips that just made you wanna kiss it off hi—_

A ** _nd what the hell was I thinking? This was Steve I was thinking about!_**

_The same guy who I’d known since seventh grade._

_The very same guy who made stupid jokes just to see me laugh._

_The very same guy who dropped me home after Tina’s Halloween party; who held me when I’d cried because Billy had been a total dick,_ **_and goddamnit; this was Stev—_ **

**BANG! BANG! BANG!**

The sound of three very heavy bodies colliding with the closed door snapped me out of my thoughts; me quickly dismounting Steve to scramble towards the other side of the bus.

**_“Shit!!”_** Dustin exclaimed, but Steve was already on it, grabbing a piece of scrap metal from the floor and holding it to the door with his feet.

I began to reload my shotgun, knowing Steve wouldn’t be able to keep them out for long.

“ ** _They can’t get in! They can’t!_** ” Insisted Lucas, but I don’t think the demagorgons cared, still throwing themselves at the bus door with angry hisses and bangs.

“ _Shitshitshitshitshitshit_!” Panicked Dustin, and I don’t think he was the only one—

**_Shit!_** The demagorgons had managed to break through, already clambering to get onto the bus, but Steve wouldn’t let that happen; already standing with his bat in hand, taking swings at it’s snapping jaws.

Meanwhile; I managed to get another bullet into my shotgun, silently cursing the day I’d convinced my dad that he didn’t need a newer model.

“ _Is anyone there? Mike? Will? God?_ ** _Anyone?!_** ” I could hear Dustin yelling down the radio; a last ditch attempt at getting backup, despite all of us knowing we were terrifyingly alone out here.

I raised my shotgun, aiming past Steve to fire at the attacking demagorgon.

**BANG! BANG!**

I fired both rounds into the monster, forcing it to retreat out of the bus, and **_goddamnit; why weren’t these things dead yet?!_**

I didn’t have time to contemplate the potential invulnerability of the demagorgons; the beasts in question having already circled the bus and begun to fling themselves at the back of the bus.

The kids began to shriek in terror, and I was really beginning to regret agreeing to this field trip, _because_ ** _goddamnit_** _; I could deal with monsters,_ ** _but screaming children?!_**

“ _We’re at the old junkyard,_ ** _and we are going to die!”_** Yelled Dustin into the radio, stating the truth we really didn’t need to hear, even as Max and Lucas began hopelessly looking for an escape route.

Unfortunately, not all of us had time to panic; me already getting to work at reloading my shotgun, _but I don’t think I brought enough shells for this, and fuck it; I don’t even think they were work—_

**BOOM!**

Something managed to land on the roof; the whole bus shaking with the force of the impact.

**_Thump. Thump. Thump._ **

I could hear heavy footsteps reverberating on the metal roof of the bus, but somehow; I don’t think my dad had managed to parachute down and rescue us--

**_“AHHHHH!”_** Max let out a scream, staring up from the foot of the ladder at something above the sunroof.

Me and Steve rushed over to her; already knowing what it was.

“ _Out of the way! Out of the way!”_ Instructed Steve, shoving her to one side.

I levelled my shotgun with the face of a snarling demogorgon; it’s jaws parting to let out a roa--

**BANG! BANG!**

I unloaded my shells into the back of its throat, watching as it fell to one side and off the roof of the bus with a sickening _squelch_.

The bus suddenly stopped shaking, and the demagorgons hissing and roaring started to become fainter _as if they were_ —

**_They were retreating!_ **

**_Thank fucking god!_ **

I wanted to fall down on my knees and praise whatever god was listening for sparing us from a gory death, but I couldn’t quite yet; not until we knew for sure.

——————————————————————————

Five minutes later, after Steve and I knew it wasn’t a trap and we weren’t about to get jumped by demagorgons the moment we opened the door, we ventured out of the bus.

Steve went outside first, nailbat in hand, because despite the fact I was better armed and more suited to fighting at range; he still had to play the gentleman and keep me out of danger.

I followed, gun at the ready, because it would be a cold day in hell when I let his ass get killed over something as stupid as chivalry.

_Nothing_.

_Not a single living thin—_

**_CRACK!_ **

Me and Steve both spun towards the sound of a twig breaking; both hyper alert and ready for battle, should things get ugly.

On the outskirts of the junkyard, I could see Dart running away back towards the woods.

I raised my gun, ready to take a potshot at him, when Steve stopped me, placing his hand over my barrel and pushing it down.

I let him, deciding that I could at least defer to his judgement just this once.

Besides; we didn’t want them coming back for vengeance.

“ _What happened?”_ Lucas asked, emerging from the bus first to takea look around.

_“I don’t know.”_ Max replied; the next to get off the bus with a shaken look on her face.

“ _Do you think we scared them off?”_ Dustin asked, sidling up between me and Steve as if he’d done anything but screaming and whining.

“ _It’s possible—“_ Steve replied,

“ ** _No_**.” I interrupted as Steve rested his bat on his shoulder, ready to call it a day.

_Fuck; I was ready to call it a day,_ but I couldn’t, not if they were going.

I could hear the demagorgons growls and hisses in the distance, echoing as they retreated.

I knelt on the ground, studying the start of a blood trail leading into the woods.

“ ** _They’re going somewhere._** ”


	31. Chapter Thirty One - Mission Implausible

If those fucking things were heading where I thought they were heading; I’m not sure we’d have enough fire power.

Still, suicide mission or not, Steve and I had taken it upon ourselves to right the wrong some dumb kid had started by adopting a space slug.

So; now me, Steve and our impromptu scouts troop were walking through the woods, working on getting our tracking badges by following monster blood trails.

“ _You positive that was Dart_?” Lucas asked Dustin, _because apparently_ the imagination of children had died and been replaced by cynicism.

“ _Yes. He had the exact same yellow pattern on his butt.”_ Dustin stated; clearly getting tired of everyone not believing him.

“ _He was tiny two days ago.”_ Max pointed out, and I was beginning to wonder why none of these kids had figured that keeping this thing as a pet was a bad idea in the first place.

“ _Well; he’s molted three times already._ ” Dustin replied; the picture not sitting comfortably in my head.

“ _Malted?_ ” Steve repeated; _once again_ sounding the idiot in a gang of thirteen year olds.

“ _Molted..._ ” Dustin corrected him as if he was the child here.

**“It means he shed his skin, dumbass...** _like a snake.” I_ informed him; knowing it was best to keep things in _simple_ terms for Steve.

“ _Well; when’s he gonna molt again?_ ” Asked Max, pointing out the very likely fact that this thing might get even bigger.

“ _Well; it’s gotta be soon. And when he does, he’ll be fully grown, or close to it._ ** _And so will all his friends._** ” Dustin told us ominously, making that less than metaphorical ticking time bomb a little more real.

“ _Yeah; and he’s gonna eat a lot more than cats..._ ” Steve commented darkly.

“ ** _Wait! A cat?! Dart ate a cat?!_** ” Lucas exclaimed, stopping Dustin dead in his tracks.

**_“No! What? No!”_** Dustin blustered, and I could already see where this train wreck was going.

“ _What are you talking about? He ate Mews._ ” Steve pointed out; once again reaffirming that he was the **biggest idio** t in the party.

“ _Mews? Who’s Mews?_ ” Max asked, clearly knowing even less than me about all this.

“ _Dustin’s cat.”_ Steve answered, still not getting the point that _Dustin was_ ** _lying_** _to them._

“ ** _Steve!_** ” Dustin exclaimed angrily.

**_“I knew it! You kept him!”_** Lucas honed in on Dustin as the truth slowly came tumbling out.

“ _No! No; I... I...”_ Dustin floundered, suddenly running out of lies to tell.

“ _He missed me! He wanted to come home!_ ” Dustin finally relented; coming out with perhaps the _stupidest_ thing I’d heard all night, and that included Steve’s outbursts.

**_“Bullshit!”_** Lucas shot him down like a clay pigeon, and I was beginning to get real tired of their bickering.

**I did not sign up for this.**

_I didn’t sign up for any of this, really._ Steve had dragged me along like his obligatory plus one without an ounce of thought on whether I wanted to be involved with all this bullshit.

And now these kids were dragging up slights long past, _because apparently petty wasn’t solely a Hopper trait,_ and Steve was just standing there like a life sized Cindy doll; and now I had no choice but to play referee and break this shit up.

“ ** _Alright! Alright! Alright! That’s enough!_** ” I yelled, stepping in between the two boys, just in case they decided to turn this argument into a cage match.

It didn’t seem to matter; boys so intent on being boys that they elected to continue to ignore me and bicker like fish wives.

“ _He wasn’t trying to eat us!_ ” Insisted Dustin; _and no wonder Steve liked the kid so much,_ ** _he was a certified idiot._**

“ _Oh; so he was just gonna say hello?_ ” Lucas called indignation, scoffing at Dustin with disbelief; _and I was beginning to like this ki—_

“ ** _Guys!_** ” Yelled Steve, cutting through the arguing like a hot knife through butter, and we all turned our heads to see what the hell he wanted.

I was about to snap at Steve that _he wasn’t fucking helping_ , when a loud screech echoed in the distance.

I turned towards it, listening to the utterly inhuman pitch and already knowing exactly what it was.

Steve gave me that look again, and I knew we were both about to do something incredibly stupid, both of us heading in the direction of the noise; the two boys following in our stead.

“ _No, no, no._ ** _Hey guys; why are you heading towards the sound?_** ” Protested Max, but her complaints fell on deaf ears; Steve, the boys and I heading towards where the tree line became thinner.

We found ourselves at the edge of a overlook, staring straight out at the entire landscape of Hawkins, lit solely by twinkling street lights.

_“I don’t see him.”_ Said Dustin, pointing out the obvious as we looked out on a dark Hawkins.

Lucas lifted up his binoculars, scanning over the town to find the source of the sound.

_“It’s the lab...”_ He said; his binoculars settling on the building in question, rising high above distant tree lines.

**_“They were going back home.”_ **

—————————————————

Twenty minutes and a very steep hike later, we were finally descending to the lab, traipsing between the trees down to what could possibly be a massacre.

I questioned the wisdom of bringing three thirteen year olds with us to this showdown, but it wasn’t like we could abandon them in the woods; bears and other common critters a very real threat in Indiana woodlands.

“ _So what’s the plan?_ ” Steve asked as we scaled down a steep hill; illuminated only by torchlight.

“ _What plan? I thought you were the one with a plan; genius?!_ ” I scoffed; feeling quite sick of everything falling to me when it came to reason and responsibility.

“ _Come on; Lola. We all know you think my plans are bullshit; so what are we gonna do?_ ” Steve asked; for once admitting his incompetence in the potential face of death.

“ _Just... keep behind me..._ ” I instructed; really struggling with finding a sounder strategy than point and shoot, **_and maybe_** _I was turning into my dad._

“ _That’s it?_ ” Steve asked; his smile of disbelief doing little to hide his genuine nervousness.

“ _That, and pray we don’t all get eaten.”_ I muttered under my breath, noticing the trees thinning again and abandoning Steve to scout ahead.

I think I could hear voices; _arguing mayb_ e, and I pondered the wisdom in shouting ahead.

Then again; who knew who could be trying to get in the lab at this hour of night,

_Probably government,_ **_and if there was one thing_ ** _we didn’t trust in my family, it was men in suits with mysterious I.D.s._

I held back, deciding I’d rather try and asses what we’re facing before running headfirst into a potential firefight.

Steve clearly didn’t share my reservations, already beginning to walk straight out into enemy territory.

“ _Steve..._ ” I whispered hoarsely, but either he didn’t hear me, or was still pissed off for the genius comment; **but either way, what he was doing was near suicidal.**

“ ** _Hello? Who’s there?_** ” A voice sliced through the darkness, and I swore I recognised it, but was too busy trying to flank a speed walking Steve _before he got us all killed._

“ ** _Who’s there?_** ” The voice shouted again as Steve led us out of the woods with all the subtlety of a helicopter; bright torch beam shining out into the darkness.

“ ** _Steve?_** ” A woman’s voice accompanied the first as we emerged.

**_“Lola?”_** The first voice exclaimed, and in the harsh glow of Steve’s torchlight, I recognised who these wannabe intruders were.

**_“Nancy?”_** Steve stared dumbfounded at his girlfriend standing just outside Hawkins lab, dressed for some serious breaking and entering.

_“Jonathan?”_ I said; recognising the lanky awkward form stood slightly in front of her, ready to heroically protect her if needs must.

“ _What are you doing here?_ ” Nancy asked, making a beeline across the grass towards Steve.

“ _What am I doing here?!_ ** _What are you doing here?!_** ” He retorted; his face a mixture of confusion and anger.

“ _We’re looking for Mike and Will_.” Nancy answered reasonably, but I could tell by Steve’s facial expression, he was already wracking up for a fight.

“ ** _They’re not in there; are they?_** ” Dustin interrupted, derailing the argument before it could even happen and drawing all our attention back to the lab.

“ _We’re not sure; why?_ ” Jonathan asked, suspicion colouring his face; only to be whipped away by a loud screech emanating from the lab.

We all turned towards the sound, finally realising that we had no choice here. Kids were in danger and we were the only ones near enough to help.

**_We already knew what we had to do._ **


	32. Chapter Thirty Two - Mr Chief Hopper; Sir!

We had all been ready to burst into the lab Rambo-style, guns blazing and bats swinging, but the reality of what happened was much more anticlimactic.

We couldn’t even get past the damn gate; _great rescue party we were_ , and had spent the past ten minutes arguing about how exactly we were going to get it open without electricity.

I’d been all for scaling it and just doing this thing Marines style, _but some of the more masculine members of our party were worried about losing some spare parts on the barbed wire;_ ** _here’s looking at you Steve!_**

So instead I was sitting with my back against the control room whilst Dustin and Jonathan played press the button for the hundredth time!

“ _Do you think Nancy wants to break up with me?_ ” Steve’s voice broke through my thoughts as he settled down on the floor beside me; and I began to wonder what brought on this bombshell now of all times.

“ _What? Where’s this come from?_ ” I asked, confused, because Steve really had the worst of timings.

_“I mean; she’s out here with Jonathan; of all people, and I mean; it seems like she doesn’t trust that she can just tell me things. You know what I mean?”_ Steve explained with all that heart wracking vulnerability I really needed to be less susceptible to.

I sighed, holding off rolling my eyes, because poor timing or not; Steve had asked for some genuine advice, and I suppose I owed him that much.

“ _Look; I don’t know a lot about what’s going on with Nancy..._ ” I began, trying to soften some hard truths for his sake, because it didn’t take a genius to work out that _maybe_ Steve and Nancy’s relationship wasn’t fit to last.

_But maybe that wasn’t a bad thing in the long run._

“ _But even if she was planning on breaking up with you; it wouldn’t be your fault.._.” I reassured him, watching how his eyes never left the girl in question as she paced up and down the gate.

“ _You’ve done everything you can, Steve. And I think she already knows that_.” I offered in consolation, patting him affectionately on the shoulder, because that’s the most I could give him right now.

Steve opened his mouth to reply, when suddenly we were bathed in light.

“ _The powers back on._ ” Nancy stated, breaking her pacing to rush over to the control room whilst the labs lights slowly began to flicker with life.

Steve and I got to our feet, following the rest of the party as they crowded outside the control room, watching whilst Dustin and Jonathan resumed their button mashing with twice the enthusiasm.

“ _Let me try..._ ” Said Dustin, already making to push past Jonathan.

“ _Hold on..._ ” Jonathan replied, still not done hammering his thumb on the button like a mad man.

**_“Let me try, Jonathan...”_** Dustin insisted, shoving past Jonathan to resume pressing the button repeatedly, _as if a change of person was gonna do anything._

Still; the gate remained closed, and we remained locked outside whilst **god knows what** went on just beyond our reach.

**_“Son of a bitch!_** _You know what...”_ Griped Dustin, practically slamming his thumb against the button as if he could pummel it into submission.

**_Nope._** _Wasn’t working,_ and I was just about to re-suggest scaling the fence, when the gate slid open with an aching creak.

“ ** _Hey; I got it!_** ” Exclaimed Dustin triumphantly, _but somehow I don’t think he was the reason it had opened up._

I stepped forward, ready to lead the charge through the gate, when Steve stepped forward, grabbing my arm.

“ _Hey; Lo. Maybe we should let Jonathan and Nance go in first, and we can wait out here with the kids._ ” He suggested softly, his hands still not leaving my arm.

“ _Are you kidding, Steve? Come on; they need us in there!”_ I argued, pulling away ready to follow Nancy to Jonathan’s car which he was already climbing into.

“ _Steve’s right. You should probably keep watch in case any of those things try to escape._ ” Jonathan agreed with Steve for perhaps the first time ever.

“ ** _No. Not gonna happen. I can help!_** ” I insisted, marching over to the car; Steve following hot on my heels.

“ _Lola; please..._ ” Steve begged, grabbing my arm again and spinning me to face him.

“ _Just listen to me just once.._.” He continued; his face looking drawn and tired for the first time tonight, and I was wondering what worries were running through that pretty little head of his.

“ _I’m not asking you to be the damsel. I just asking you to stay with me._ ** _Please_**.” He added; his eyes soft and painful as he looked into mine; and maybe he should’ve been more worried about what this looked like to his girlfri—

**VROOOM**!

I spun at the sound of an engine whirring to life, just before Jonathan gunned it through the gate towards the lab.

“ ** _Hey_** —“ I protested, but he was already whizzing down the street with no intention on turning back.

I spun back to Steve; who had one of those shiteating grins on his face, and shot him a look that promised a hundred degrees of hell later.

**_This boy was gonna get it. Mark my words._ **

——————————————-

Damsel in distress duty was well oversupplied, with two semi adults and three kids sat at the roadside like homeless bums, waiting patiently for our crafty crusaders to return.

I wasn’t talking to Steve; resolved in ignoring this asshole for the rest of the day and potentially longer.

_So he suddenly decides to get smart when it comes to tricking me, but acts a total idiot the rest of the time?!_

_Well; let’s see how smart boy likes playing babysitter all by himsel—_

“ _Guys_...” Max called out from the road, eyes fixed on a set of glaring lights rapidly approaching.

I heard the rumble of an engine, then the sharp honk of a horn.

“ ** _Get out the way!_** ” I exclaimed, tugging the girl from the road before she had the chance to become roadkill, just moments before Jonathan’s car came barrelling past at full speed.

We didn’t have time to wonder what his hurry was before another much more recognisable truck pulled to a halt beside us.

“ _Dad!_ ” I smiled at his familiar haggard face as the window rolled down.

“ _Get in._ ” Dad commanded, leaving no time for heartfelt greetings before Steve pulled open the side door and began ushering the kids inside.

They all piled in; me included, endings up being sandwiched between Dustin, Max and Lucas _in what I’d previously considered a spacious backseat_.

Steve, meanwhile, climbed into the front seat _and once_ ** _again I’d been cheated out of shotgun; this time in my own dad’s car._**

Still; now wasn’t the time to make complaints, not when dad gunned it at 70 down a 30 street.

Steve let out a sigh, leaning back into his seat as if he just ran a marathon.

“ _Jesus; that was..._ ” He panted; not quite managing to get the words out to finish the sentence.

“ _What the hell happened dad?_ ” I interrupted, leaning forwards between the front seat, because he never told me he was going to the lab, and I thought we’d agreed no more secrets?!

“ _I’ll tell you about it later, sweetheart; I promise...”_ My dad assured me, slowing the truck to a speed that was less likely to get us all killed.

Although the pressure to hightail away from here was becoming less and less urgent; the tension refused to dissipate, silence reigning supreme over the entire truck.

Awkward didn’t begin to describe it; the very knowledge that everyone in this car had been lying to each other in some form or another now glaringly obvious in the eye of the storm.

“ _Harrington_.” My dad still spoke to Steve like he was that dipshit in the cells, sparing him a glance in the rear view mirror that only made the exchange more awkward.

“ _Mr Chief Hopper, sir._ ” Steve addressed my dad with more respect and awkwardness than he probably deserved; distinct memories of my dad opening the front door of our trailer with a shotgun in hand, perfectly portraying the paranoid strict father who wanted to protect his baby girl from delinquents like Steve.

_Good thing he hadn’t met Billy yet. Dad would have a field day_ ; though that was an issue best tackled after we dealt with a pack of angry dog lizards.

_“I trust there’s a good reason you dragged my daughter out here at this hour?”_ My dad began; and I could already hear the cop in his voice, the interrogation well and truly started.

Steve opened his mouth to make an excuse; so used to me using the exact same tone and cadence in our arguments that familiarity tempted him to argue, but then he stopped himself; his better nature telling him it was best not to piss off the guy who could stop the police looking into his death.

“ _Yes sir; yes there is._ ” He replied instead; the tight discipline in his voice leaving me in a fit of giggles, because _there was no way_ Steve spoke to anyone else like that.

“ _Good. I’ll be interested to hear it once you’ve told me why you’ve brought_ ** _three children to a known military facility..._** ” My dad drawled; his staunch disapproval near enough to put the fear of God into Steve.

“ _Yes sir.”_ Steve sighed, already resigned that this is gonna be a long and painful drive for him, but I had no sympathy.

Being a white knight had consequences; it was a high time he learnt that.


	33. Chapter Thirty Three - A Game Plan

We all arrived at Joyce’s house around the same time; Jonathan rushing in first to place an unconscious Will on the couch, and I was beginning to wonder what exactly happened in that lab.

They were meant to be helping the kid; not hurting him, but something about staring at his limp body just lying there made me feel sick.

_Maybe it was too much of a reminder of Sara._

I tried not to think of her too much; her cute little pigtails and bright blue eyes painful to picture, even now.

The memories of the hospital were worse; her pale sunken cheeks, her head void of hair; looking more like a Holocaust victim than the bouncing, smiling little girl she used to be.

That’s one of the reasons we’d been so eager for Eleven to grow her hair out; the short stubble still too close a trigger of long evenings in the hospital, faking smiles and holding back tears because she couldn’t know the truth.

Dad had been on the phone for the last half hour, yelling down the line at what I guessed was was army, though clearly not getting anywhere.

_They didn’t believe him._

**_Fuck; who would?!_ **

_This shit was crazy and I was the one living it!_ It didn’t matter if you were a cop, or a scientist, or the fucking president himself; nobody listened when you started with crazy talk.

“ _Hey_.” Steve pulled me from my thoughts as he propped himself against the wall next to me.

_Funny how he always seemed to know the right moment to cut in, just before I dragged myself too deep into my thoughts and risked drowning in them._

“ _Hey_.” I replied; not really feeling up for conversation, but grateful for the distraction anyway.

_“You feeling alright?”_ He asked; that soft concern in his voice overly familiar by now.

“ _Yeah; I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?_ ” I tried to fake a smile, but it fell flat.

_Probably didn’t matter anyway; Steve could always see through those._

“ _You seem a bit quiet..._ ” Steve continued with his angle; turning his body so he could face me and look at me with those deep thoughtful brown eyes.

“ _I’ve got a lot on my mind.._.” I admitted with a harsh laugh, because it was true as of late. Between _El_ and _dad_ and _Billy_ and _now all this shit_ , my mind was fit to burst.

“ _Do you wanna talk about it?_ ” He asked; always to lend a sympathetic ear to me, no matter what the problem.

“ _I’d... rather not.”_ I brushed him off, though the slightly downtrodden look on his face hurt me more than it should.

He was only trying to help, and God knows I could really use someone to talk to about all this bullshit, but that couldn’t be Steve.

He was too close to the centre, and I couldn’t afford to get him hurt.

He meant too much to me for that to happen.

“ _Let’s just go wait with the kids..._ ” I offered, pushing up from the wall and walking into the kitchen, because all the sullen faces in here were beginning to get to me.

———————————————

The kids were gathered at Joyce’s kitchen table, looking more like depressed pensioners, than what had previously been overexcited children.

_It was almost sad; really._ What had started out as one of their fantasy adventures made real, had turned into another grown up nightmare that they just wanted to wake up from.

The tallest kid; Mike, _Nancy’s brother I think_ , got up from his seat, walking over to a cardboard box of what looked like junk.

“ _Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?_ ” The kid asked as if it was common trivia, and not the total out-of-the-blue question it seemed to me.

“ _Really?_ ” Lucas responded, taking his eyes off the kitchen table to watch Mike pick up a weird cube off the top of the box.

“ _He petitioned the school to start it and everything. And then he had a fundraiser for equipment._ ” Mike replied with newfound enthusiasm as he turned back towards us.

“ _Mr Clark learnt everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?_ ”

The kids all nodded in halfhearted agreement, like me; clearly not on the same page as the lanky tween.

**_“We can’t let him die in vain.”_** Mike stated, launching into what I already knew through experience was a hero speech to rock the ages.

“ _Well; what do you wanna do Mike?_ ” Dustin snapped; for once being the one to offer sense in all this.

“ _Alright; the Chief’s right on this. We can’t stop those Demodogs on our own_.”

“ _Demodogs?_ ” Max repeated, expressing the confusion we all shared.

“ ** _Demogorgon_** _\- -_ ** _Dogs_** _\- -_ ** _Demodogs_** _. It’s like a compound. A play on words—_ “ Dustin clarified as if its the most obvious thing in the world.

_“I mean; when it was just Dart, maybe…”_

“ _But there’s an army now._ ” Supported Lucas, _and I began to wonder when middle schoolers became such nihilists._

“ _Precisely_.” Agreed Dustin; these two back to being best buds again.

_“His army_...” Mike stated; a dark sense of realisation crossing his face.

“ _What do you mean?_ ” I asked, picking up that the tween leader just had one of those rare lightbulb moments.

**_“His army.”_** Mike repeated with weighted words, despite the confusion of the rest of the party.

“ _Maybe if we stopped him; we can stop his army too._..” Mike suggested perhaps the simplest of solutions.

_So simple; a child had actually come up with it._

**_So simple; it might actually work._ **

———————————————-

For two fully grown responsible adults, and four less easily defined teenagers to be following the plan of a bunch of thirteen year olds; we _must_ be desperate.

_I mean; it wasn’t like it was a bad plan._ We use Will to get to the Mind Flamer... _Flayer..._ ** _thing_** _._ If I thought of it in a military sense; it was actually half decent.

A round of interrogation with a good helping of good cop, bad cop; it all seemed pretty solid.

Dad had to work out the kinks, but for the first time tonight; I could breath a sigh of relief, because for once; the whole world was resting on _somebody else’s_ shoulders.

We’d prepped the shed as a impromptu interrogation chamber; the small dark space surprisingly indistinct beneath a layer of newspaper and duck tape.

Of course; I wasn’t to sit in on the interrogation.

That privilege went to family and close friends; with the exception of my dad, because someone here had to know what they’re doing.

Instead I was sat in the house with Nancy, Steve and the kids, trying not to feel like sitting ducks whilst the looming threat of possible annihilation hung over us.

Steve was working on his baseball swing, sweeping his nailbat in wide arcs as if fending off some invisible enemy.

“ _You alright there? You look a little tense?_ ” I asked; noticing the tight rise of his shoulders as he made each swing.

“ _I’ll feel better once I know those things are dead_.” Steve replied without a hint of his usual humour, _and if Steve was somber; we must_ ** _really_** _be in trouble._

“ _If he finds out where we are; will he send those things after us?_ ” Max asked, sounding genuinely nervous for the first time tonight.

“ ** _He won’t find us_**.” Lucas assured her with _far more_ conviction than he had any right to, and I was reminded why young love was so foolish; _always making promises you can’t keep._

“ _Yeah; but if he does.._.” Max continued her train of thought; fear clouding her mind from all reassurances.

“ ** _Judgement day._** ” Lucas stated ominously, and I tried not to dwell on the truth in the statement, knowing all too well the odds we were up against here.

—————————————————-

Twenty minutes of thumb twiddling later; I was really starting to believe this whole plan had been a dud and it was time to start packing our bags and moving to Nebraska.

Then dad walked in with that steely look of determination in his eye, Joyce and Jonathan following close behind, and I knew they’d managed to crack the kid.

“ _What happened?_ ” Dustin asked as dad snatched a sheet of paper off the wall, before taking a seat at the kitchen table.

_“I think he’s talking. Just not with words.”_ Dad replied, scribbling a series of dots and dashes on the paper.

“ _Hey; what is that?_ ” Steve asked; reaffirming he was the slowest in the group.

“ ** _Morse code_**.” We all stated, silencing him as my dad began to translate the code into English.

“ _H - E - R - E..._ ” Dad stated as he wrote down each letter; the red crayon nearly bending with the force he held it with.

“ ** _Here_**.” Mike read; triggering a series of looks between Joyce and Jonathan.

“ _Will’s still in there. He’s talking to us.”_ Dad clarified; the meaning of that sentence finally striking home.

**It worked**!

The kids’ fucking shitpile of a plan worked!

And with it; we were gonna kill this monster for good this time.


	34. Chapter Thirty Four - The Gate

**C - L - O - S - EG - A - T - E**

Not even ten letters, but already it told us so much.

Eleven had told me about the Upside Down; an alternate plain of existence that was only accessible through a tear between our dimension and the next.

_A gate_ ; so to speak.

The physics of it fucked with my head, and any proper explanation desired a brain much smarter than mine, but the concept was simple enough.

Somehow those shits in Hawkins Lab had managed to open up a portal to another dimension, and it was down to us to close it; a task that seemed nigh impossible under our circumstances.

We all stared down at those words with a heavy sense of foreboding; the events in the shed seeming far away.

**CLOSE GATE.**

A simple instruction relayed through Will’s subconscious mind. A plea for help from a prisoner within his own mind.

That silent contemplation was interrupted by a sudden ringing; the harsh trill of Joyce’s telephone cutting through the air like an air-raid siren.

“ _Shitshitshitshitshit_...” Muttered Dustin as he flew over to the phone, slamming it back down on the hook, but still it continued ringing.

I pushed him aside, wrenching it cleanly from the wall and throwing it to the floor, surprised at my sudden rush of strength.

_Maybe we’d be alright._

_Maybe he didn’t notice._

“ _Do you think he heard that_?” Max asked; voicing the question we were all afraid of the answer of.

_“It’s just the phone. It could be anywhere; right?”_ Steve replied, but I don’t think he realised how stupid that question was.

He’d heard, alright.

Something deep in my gut told me that.

The same thing that warned me to break just before the lights turned red in front of my Triumph.

He heard, and there was gonna be hell to pay if he figured out where he was.

—————————————

Hovering at the kitchen window like a dog waiting for it’s owner to return _probably_ wasn’t the smartest thing to do in a potential crisis, but it was all we could do until someone emerged from the shed and told us if our rouse was over.

We didn’t have to wait long; the encroaching sound of growls rapidly increasing in volume telling us all we needed to know.

“ _That’s not good_.” Dustin stated the obvious.

Suddenly dad flew out of the shed like a bat out of hell; Joyce and Mike following, then Jonathan with an unconscious Will in his arms.

I moved to open the kitchen door, but dad got there first and flung it open, already cocking his gun as if ready for war.

He swept across the room, honing in on the machine gun he’d left disregarded in the corner of the room; the deadly doorstop having felt more like a prop until he lifted it up and made it into a live weapon.

My stomach dropped; reality hitting like a train wreck for the fifteenth time today, but still I worked on instinct, swiping up my shotgun from the kitchen counter just to be ready.

_For what? Well; we already knew,_ especially after dad shooed the kids away from the couch; warning ** _“Get away from the windows.”_**

The kids backed away instantaneously; the hint of drill sergeant in his voice enough to scare anyone into submission.

“ _Lola; rifle..._ ” He stated as if making an introduction, holding the rifle put at arms length.

“ _Already sorted._ ” I replied, loading and cocking my shotgun in prep.

Instead my dad turned the Jonathan, asking “ _Do you know how to use this?_ ”

“ _What?_ “ Jonathan replied; his brows crinkled in confusion.

“ _Can you use this?”_ Dad repeated himself, shaking the rifle at him just in case he wasn’t being clear enough.

To my surprise and newfound respect, Nancy answered instead.

“ ** _I can._** ” She declared, and despite her girl-next-door image, dad didn’t question it; just tossed the loaded rifle in her direction.

Nancy caught it and cocked it, lining up beside me, dad and Steve as we made up the first line of defence in our sad excuse for an army.

Everyone else took their places behind us, taking up table lamps and candlesticks as improvised weapons, ready to look hell in the eye and say “ ** _I dare you_**.”

“ _Where are they?_ Max asked; her voice cutting through the tense silence as our attentions remained fix on all possible entry points.

“ _Patience; kid. They’ll show._ ” I reassured her, though I wondered if it came across as more of a threat.

We waited on baited breath; each snarl sending our pulses aflutter, each growl striking deep in the stomach, but still they didn’t come.

It was like they were taunting us; toying with us to the point our nerves were frayed and about ready to snap.

“ _What are they doing?_ ” Asked Max; nerves urging on impatience with every passing second.

No one answered; all to focused on the low pitched growls coming from just on the other side of the outside wall.

Then there was a gasp, and we all spun; fingers itchy on triggers, because any minute now-

**_SPLAT!_ **

A wet squelch sounded alongside a pained squeal, but we didn’t have time to react before—

**_SMASH!!!_ **

The scaly green form of a demodog came soaring through the nearest window, met by a series of screams.

I spun to follow its trajectory as it landed on the floor with a hard thump; it’s form lying limp on a bed of shattered glass.

_Was it..._ **_was it dead?!_ **

“ ** _Holy shit!_** ” Exclaimed Dustin; his voice projecting a mixture of shock and awe at the unexpected intrusion.

Me and dad slowly approached the felled beast, keeping our guns trained low just in case it decided to pull a Romero on us.

“ _Is it dead?_ ” Max asked, just as my dad begun to test that theory with a few well placed kicks of his steel toed boots.

Still, it didn’t move.

_Maybe it really was—_

**_CRRREEEAAAKKK!_ **

A loose floorboard just outside the back door whined in protest as something stepped on it.

We all spun; not fully prepared for a sneak attack, but willing to try nonetheless.

The latches began to open one by one, and my stomach dropped.

**_They could open doors; the damn shits!!_ **

**_They could open fucking doors from the outside like fucking Yoda!!_ **

I kept my finger steady on the trigger, ready to pull it at a moments notice, despite knowing the fact that we were well outnumbered at this point.

The door slowly swung open, and I stepped forwards ever so slightly, taking aim to fire, **but then stopped...**


	35. Chapter Thirty Five - Homecoming

**_“El?!”_ **

The name slipped out of Mike’s mouth before it even crossed my lips; the tall lanky boy stepping forward to take her in for what must’ve been the first time in over a year.

His face swept through five different expressions; managing to convey more emotion than I’d seen from the kid all night.

_Shock_ , _excitement_ , _betrayal_ , _anger_ , and finally settling on **_relief_** as he finally closed the gap between them and embraced her in a hug so tight; I could see his arms shaking.

“ _Is that..._ ” Began Max; already so caught up in the near mythical stories that surrounded Eleven that she looked as if she couldn’t quite believe she was real.

Dustin and Lucas both nodded in confirmation; their mouths hanging slack jawed in astonishment as they watched their two friends reunited after what must’ve seemed like the end.

I couldn’t quite believe it myself.

_Not because I thought she was dead like so many here tonight. But because she was meant to be home._ **_She was meant to be safe._ **

My eyes flickered back to my dad; his expression hard to read as he watched the two kids reunited.

“ _I... I never gave up on you..._ ” Uttered Mike, finally releasing El from his unrelenting grip.

_“I called you- - I called every night... every night for—_ “

“ ** _Three-hundred fifty-three days._** ” Eleven finished his sentence for him; guilt momentarily wracking her features.

“ _I... heard._ ”

“ _You were... there?_ ** _Listening?_** ” He exclaimed; that slight look of betrayal returning once more.

El just nodded; lip trembling, _and were those tears?_

“ ** _Why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you tell me you were there? That you were okay?_** ” Betrayal gave way to anger as Mike began to throw accusation filled questions at El.

“ ** _Because I wouldn’t let her_**.” My dad answered the question for her, stepping forwards and into the conversation.

His eyes fell on Eleven, taking in her newly minted look with distinct disapproval.

_Black eyeliner, slicked back hair, heavy men’s jacket;_ **_she almost looked pretty punk._ **

**_She almost looked like me._ **

“ _What is all this? Where have you been?_ ” He interrogated; already drilling her with twenty questions at once.

“ ** _Where have you been?_** ” She snapped back; her attitude matching her new sense of style.

The tension didn’t last for long though; my dad’s apparent relief of her returning okay overshadowing whatever anger had been there.

He broke into a smile, pulling her in for a fatherly hug, kissing the top of her slicked back hair.

When they eventually broke apart; I stepped forward, taking in the girl who I’d rapidly begun to see as my sister.

“ _Dig the new threads_.” I remarked, though perhaps I should’ve been more concerned about where she’d got them from, considering I recognised none of them from my wardrobe.

Apparently there were even more secrets being kept in the Hopper family; _one’s even being kept from me._

But I didn’t have the heart to be mad; El quickly wrapping her arms around me in a warm hug that was still so very sweet, despite her less than sweet demeanour.

“ _Missed you too; El_.” I smiled, squeezing her skinny frame tightly in my arms.

“ ** _You’ve been hiding her... hiding her this whole time!_** ” An outraged voice cut through the moment of cute familial domesticity, as the reality of the past year finally dawned upon Mike.

I released El from my arms, both of us stepping back to see how he’d handle this one.

Dad didn’t even bother to deny it; the truthtoo painfully obvious for all to see for him to even bother making excuses.

Mike looked about ready to explode; anger and pure outrage mingling with the hurt of a year’s worth of mourning, creating a noxious Molotov cocktail that was ready to blow at a moments notice.

“ _Let’s talk._ ** _Alone_**.” Dad requested; his voice calm and level in the face of the kid’s fury, and in these times it was easy to remember why he was a cop.

To my surprise; the kid followed, trailing off after him to a bedroom where they could have a shouting match in relative privacy.

—————————————————-

With Eleven back in the loop and Will under control, going back to the lab and closing the gate head on wasn’t seeming so much of a suicidal plan after all.

Not all of us could go along for the ride; that bit of truth was left unsaid. It was dangerous, and too big of a party was sure to attract too much attention and bring the Demodogs down on us quicker than rain in hurricane season.

It was gonna need a small attack and disperse team; special ops military tactics, or some shit like that, and we couldn’t afford to have to worry about defending thirteen year old kids without mind powers.

That’s why I was loading up my shotgun; thankful that buried amongst the space heaters and gardening tools in the Byers’ shed, they had some actual buckshot packed away for a rainy day.

“ _You serious about doing this_?” Steve asked, sidling up beside me with an apparent nervousness in his voice.

“ _As the grave_.” I replied, cocking my shotgun with an unapologetic click.

“ _Lo; you don’t have to go. Your dad can handle this—_ “ He attempted to talk me out of it, but we’d already had this conversation before.

“ ** _Steve; stop it.”_** I interrupted him; my voice firm and resolute.

“ _I’m going, and there’s nothing you can say that will change that_.” 

“ ** _Bu—_** “ He began, but I held up my hand to stop him.

“ ** _Steve._** ” I warned, and his mouth closed; lips pursed as I could tell he was trying not to argue; trying to let me make my own damn decision for once.

But it was hard for him; so full of care and concern that the very knowledge he was condoning me to walk straight into danger made his stomach churn.

He wanted to stop me; to find a way to make me stay whether I wanted to or not, but he wouldn’t. It wasn’t his place, and I wasn’t about to give him an opportunity to think otherwise.

I got up and began walking to the door, deciding to forgo goodbyes, because they were depressing, and somehow felt like I was admitting I might not come back from this.

“ _Lo?_ ” Steve called from the other side of the room, and although my better instincts told me to ignore it and keep going, I stopped and turned to face him.

**_“I told Nancy it was okay._** ” He said with a nod, and I crinkled my eyebrows in confusion.

_He told Nancy it was okay?_

“ ** _I told her..._** _I told her it was okay_.” Steve continued; his voice staccato and broken, as he looked at me with wide doe eyes.

“ _Okay_.” I replied quietly, though I’m not sure it was what he wanted to hear, before continuing outside.

_He told Nancy it was okay?_

**_What the fuck?!_ **

—————————————————-

I strode out of the Byers’ house; Steve’s words still fresh in my head, as I made a beeline for my dad’s truck.

Him and Eleven were about ready to leave, making up two thirds of the terrible trio which would destroy what Hawkins labs had unleashed upon us for good.

“ _And where do you think you’re going?_ ” My dad asked; his voice dripping with reprimand.

“ _I’m coming with you.”_ I stated matter-of-factly, still striding towards the rear passenger door of the Blazer without a moments hesitation.

“ _Uh; no, you not.”_ Dad responded, stepping forwards to block my path.

“ _You’re staying here with Steve.”_

“ _C’mon Dad; I want to help._ ” I insisted, trying to manoeuvre my way past him despite his insistence otherwise.

“ _And you will...”_ Dad assured; lowering himself down to my height as if I was still that twelve year old kid he could barter with.

“ _By staying here and making sure these kids stay out of trouble_.”

He rose back up and began to climb back into his truck, already settled that he’d had the last word on the subject.

**He’d be wrong.**

“ _Seriously, Dad; Steve’s got it covered. I can watch your back—_ “ I began; resolute that I wouldn’t be left behind to play babysitter again.

“ _Absolutely not._ ” Dad rejected point blank; still determined in making this decision for me.

“ _It’s bad enough having to put El in danger; now you’re asking me to do the same to you—_ “

“ _Dad; I’m not a kid—“_ I protested; sick and tired of everyone treating me like something that needed protecting.

**_I could handle myself; goddamnit!_ **

“ ** _Lola; this isn’t a negotiation!_** ” He yelled; railroading over my words with all his signature bullheadedness.

I stopped, pursing my lips a little too much like Steve for the situation, as my dad managed to reign in his temper.

“ _Look..._ ” He sighed; his anger simmering down to a petitioning frustration that only just masked the true concern in his voice.

_“I don’t ask much from you, Lo, but_ **_please_ ** _listen to your dad just this once and_ **_stay behind!_ ** _”_

I opened my mouth, ready to object, _because when it came to dad attempting to smother us; it was never_ ** _just this once._**

_“I’m not gonna argue with you on this, but_ **_promise me_ ** _; promise me, you won’t do anything stupid.”_

I sighed, rolling my eyes, because part of being a Hopper was knowing when someone had you beat.

“ _Fine_.” I gave in, though the look on my face still told him I wasn’t happy with it.

“ _Promise_...” Dad instructed still not trusting me without my word, and _barely_ trusting me on that.

“ ** _I promise_**.” I conceded, knowing that it probably wasn’t wise to keep my fingers crossed behind my back on this one.

“ _Good_.” Dad smiled, climbing back into his truck now he knew I wasn’t going to follow after him.

“ _Now you gotta keep it._ ** _And remember; no omissions_** _._ ” He reminded me; pointing a warning finger in my face, already well aware with how conniving I could be.

I had to smile at that, because we both knew how shit we were at keeping promises.

He pulled me in for a quick half hug, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and planting a kiss on the top of my head.

_“I love you.”_ He mumbled into my hair, and I tried not to let my smile fall, because I knew that this could be it.

_The last time we saw each other._

“ _I love you too, dad..._ ” I replied back, trying not to let the crack in my voice be heard, because, _yes; this could be it._

We separated, and I stepped back, allowing my dad to shut the door between us; to shut me out once more.

He started the Blazer, and it whirred to life with a distinct **_VROOOM!_**

I made my way back to the front porch, trying not to let my own uncertainty show.

Steve was waiting there for me with the kids; that same sad look of concern on his face that just heralded the; _“are you okay?”_ I knew was about to come out of his mouth.

I forced a small smile, hoping that alone it would be enough to convince him to keep any well meaning questions to himself.

I turned and leaned against the bean opposite him, already sensing the question in the air as he opened his mouth.

“ ** _Harrington..._** ” My dad spoke first, calling out of his open truck window to the boy in question.

Steve looked up; alarm, _and was that fear on his face?_

“ _Keep an eye on her for me..._ ” My dad instructed, and I already knew it was one Steve would follow to the letter.

_“And if I hear of you dragging her off on any more monster hunts; you won’t make it to college...”_

I could barely stifle a laugh, _because of course; my dad would make time to make some kind of threat._

Steve looked less than amused; wisely taking the threat at face value, instead of the sharp edged jibe it probably was, but better safe than sorry.

Dad turned the car and drove away, followed closely behind by Jonathan and co. in his car.

Steve, the kids and I watched silently as the cars disappeared into the dark of the road again, suddenly left stranded amongst all this chaos.

_Alone; at last._


	36. Chapter Thirty Six - On The Bench

_“Okay. So he should fit now.”_ Said Dustin as he chucked another shelfload of food onto the Byers kitchen floor.

Him and Steve had been trying to fit the dead Demodog into the refrigerator for the better part of half an hour, failing more miserably with each consecutive attempt.

The whole process was as you’d imagine, pretty disgusting, with the rapidly heating cold blooded creature smelling worse by the minute.

“ _Can you guys hurry up. You’re making the place stink_.” I complained, covering my nose from the stench as I sat myself on the edge of the countertop.

“ _You know; this would go_ ** _a lot faster_** _if you_ ** _actually helped_.**” Steve commented, struggling with holding onto the blanket wrapped corpse in his arms.

_“Oh no! I wanted to bury it in the backyard;_ ** _you two_** _were the idiots who thought it would be nice to keep it as a souvenir.”_ I refused point blank, because I drew the line at acting as body disposal for the whims of thirteen year olds.

Steve wisely gave up on petitioning for my help, and instead focused his efforts on manhandling the thing into the icebox, Dustin offering minimal help with the ordeal.

“ _Is this_ ** _really_** _necessary?_ ” Steve asked the kid; his nose wrinkling in disgust at the close quarters to the decomposing monster.

**_“This is a significant scientific discovery. You can’t just bury it like some common mammal.”_** The kid argued, attempting to wrestle one of the creature’s claws into the small space.

_“Alright; well, you’re explaining this to Mrs Byers.”_ Steve conceded, finally managing to get the damn thing to fit.

He slammed the fridge door shut; him and Dustin working together to hold it closed in case it tried to burst open from the force.

Lucky for them, it didn’t.

With the dead Demodog bagged and tagged for later analysis, Steve and Dustin sank down against the icebox, resting their backs against it as they sighed in relief that they didn’t have to deal with that god awful smell anymore.

——————————————————

We’d only been waiting for about half an hour, but Jesus Christ; did it feel like longer. Time ticked by like a snail on molasses, and I found myself glancing at the clock only to be convinced it was broken.

I knew being left behind wasn’t gonna feel like no picnic, _but I honestly didn’t expect to feel_ ** _so bored!_**

_“Mike; would you_ ** _please_** _just stop it already? You’re making it worse.”_ Complained Lucas to perhaps the **only** person who was even more tense than I was as he paced up and down the hall in a display that was so frenzied; I couldn’t help but imagine my dad.

“ _You weren’t in there;_ ** _okay Lucas?!_** _The lab was swarming with hundreds of those dogs—_ “ Berated Mike with all the consternation of a worked up parent.

_“Demodogs!”_ Corrected Dustin from the kitchen, cueing a well timed eye roll from Lucas.

_“The Chief will take care of her...”_ Stated Lucas; his faith in my father almost touching.

_Of course; I knew better. But I wasn’t about to say that out loud._

_“Like she needs protection!”_ Exclaimed Max; her apparent awe of my little sister still not wearing off.

_“Dude- if the coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it—“_ Steve agreed, sounding the most like a jock I think he ever had in his life.

_“Okay,_ ** _first of all;_** _this isn’t a stupid sports game,_ ** _and second,_** _we’re not even in the game;_ ** _we’re benched..._** _”_ Mike argued; his rationale making far more sense to me than it probably should.

_“I mean; Lola, aren’t you at least_ ** _a little_** _bit worried about your dad?”_ He asked; clearly sensing my sympathy to his cause and honing in on it.

_“Well; yeah, but it isn’t like there’s anything I can do from here—“_ I shrugged, my arms crossed across my chest, _because as much as I hated to admit it; I was as useless as anyone else here at the moment._

**_“The point is...”_** Steve interrupted, _only to lose track of what his fucking point is in the first place._

_“The point is... r_ ** _ight; we’re benched,_** _yeah?”_ He finally found his train of thought, nodding at me as if I was somehow in support of his analogy.

_“There’s nothing we can do.”_ He stated; clearly expecting that would be the final word on it.

**_“Well.... that’s not strictly true...”_** Corrected Dustin, forcing all eyes to fall upon him.

_The boy had a plan. I could already see it on his smarmy face, and now we were gonna hear it._

_“I mean; the demodogs have a hive mind. They ran from the bus because they were called away...”_ He explained; his rationally reminding me of his status as a child genius, rather than the annoying thirteen year old I’d had to put up with for the past five hours.

_“So if we get their attention—“_ Continued Lucas, already picking up on his train of thought.

_“Maybe we can draw their attention away from the lab—“_ Added Max; already proving how she earned her place amongst a gang of ultra intelligent preteen boys and a super powered girl.

**_“And clear a path to the Gate.”_** Finished Mike; the simplicity of the plan almost beautiful when said out loud.

**_“That’s—_** _actually not a half bad plan.”_ I admitted, trying and failing to find a hole in their logic.

_“Yeah — except you forgot the part where_ ** _we all die!”_** Exclaimed Steve; clearly not on the same page as the rest of us at all.

_“Well, that’s one point of view...”_ Shrugged Dustin, looking disturbingly casual about the conclusion.

**_“No; that’s not a point of view. That’s a fact.”_** Objected Steve; clearly having chosen his hill to stand on.

But the kids weren’t going to listen. They’d already begun putting their little heads together, hurrying over the primitive map drawn out across the Byers’ walls.

_“This is where The Chief dug his hole._ ** _This is our way into the tunnels...”_** Stated Mike, already pointing at a large cross drawn onto the map.

_“And look; right here...”_ He continued, dragging his finger along a tunnel to a large chamber of some sort.

_“This is like... a hub. See how all the tunnels feed into it?”_ He asked, cueing a series of nods from all the kids.

_“So maybe if we set this on fire—“_

_“Okay— yeah;_ ** _that’s a NO!”_** Objected Steve, standing as a barricade at every step of the way.

_“The Mind Flayer would call away his army...”_ Theorised Dustin; not put off by Steve in the slightest.

_“They’d all come to stop us...”_ Continued Lucas, and already I could sense this plan coming together.

_“And we’d circle back to the exit here.”_ Mike further explained; clearly having quite the head for battle strategy.

_My dad would be proud._ **_Angry_ ** _, but proud._

_“By the time they realised we were gone—“_

**_“El and my dad would already be at The Gate.”_** I finished; seriously impressed with this kid’s planning.

**_“Guys!! HEY!! HEY!!”_** Yelled Steve; outraged and frustrated with the clear lack of concern we had for our own safety.

**_“This—“_** Steve lectured, pointing at the map angrily.

**_“This is not happening.”_ **

**_“And I can’t believe you’d even consider this!”_** Steve turned to me; a strange blend of accusation and disappointment in his voice that I wasn’t used to hearing.

_“Come on, Steve—“_ I whined, hoping I could win him over.

**_“No—“_ **

_“But—“_

**_“No. No Buts!”_** He refused point blank; his adamant stance really surprising me.

_“I promised to keep you shitheads safe and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”_ He stated, turning his attention back to the kids just in case they decided to jump in on out little couple’s argument.

_“And as for you...”_ He said; turning a sweeping finger back in my direction like a smoking gun.

_“I told your dad I’d look after you, and I’m pretty sure if I don’t; he’ll wear my skin as a suit._ **_So; just NO!”_ **

**_“We’re sitting here, on the bench, and we’re waiting for the starting team to do their job.”_** Instructed Steve; returning to his coach persona with renewed dedication.

**_“Does everyone understand?”_ **

_“This isn’t a sports game—“_ Muttered Mike under his breath; clearly not buying into the whole Coach Harrington thing.

**_“I said; does everyone understand?”_** He repeated himself; basically yelling now as if he could force his point across.

_“Jesus; Steve—“_ I sighed, rolling my eyes, because for a people person; Steve really needed to work on his inspirational speeches.

**_“I need a yes...”_** Steve demanded, _but really; he had to_ ** _stop_** _with this._

_“Steve; come on...”_ I said, walking up to him to take his arm and lead him away.

**_“No; I’m not done yet.”_** He argued, pulling back against me as he snatched his wrist from my grip.

_“Come on; Steve. Let’s go talk.”_ I tried again, taking his arm, and this time he came without protest.


	37. Chapter Thirty Seven - The White Knight

_“Before you say anything; I’m not changing my mind...”_ Steve argued before I could even close the door behind us, having dragged him into what I guessed was Jonathan’s room; judging by the Bowie posters on the walls.

_“Steve—“_ I started, swinging the door closed and turning to face him.

**_“No; Lola. I’m serious about this._** _I don’t want you or anyone getting hurt—“_ He continued; that same soft concern breaking through his anger.

**_“No one’s gonna get hurt, Steve.”_** I stated, walking over to him to see he’d already begun pacing the room like a madman.

**_“You don’t know that!”_** He interrupted; pointing a damning finger at me before resuming his vigil.

_“And even if you did; your dad would kill me if—“_

_“Steve...”_ I petitioned, stepping into his path to take his head in my hands, cradling his cheeks between my palms.

_“Calm down. Take some deep breaths—“_

_“Lola; I really can’t—“_

**_“Just breathe.”_** I instructed, taking some slow steady breaths of my own as a demonstration.

_“In and out. In and out. That’s it! You’re doing it!”_ I smiled as he caught on, following my lead even though his face said he felt far from compliant.

Still; he did as I asked, calming his frantic breathing and relieving himself from all that pent up stress.

_“Feeling better?”_ I asked; noting how he’d managed to refrain from yelling at me for at least two minutes.

His deep brown eyes rose up to meet mine; a sense of tiredness in their depths.

_“Yes...”_ He admitted with a sigh, pulling away from me to shove his hands in his pockets and walk tight circles in the room.

_“But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m not letting you go through with this_ ** _bullshit_** _plan.”_ He continued to protest; that tension in his shoulders returning.

_“If somehow you got hurt; I—“_

**_“No one’s going to get hurt, Steve.”_** I reassured him again; my voice coming across unwaveringly confident.

**_“But how can you know that; Lo?_** _How can you just say—“_ He trailed off; his expression almost pained at this point.

_“I don’t.”_ I admitted, staring at his tense posture; shoulders encroaching on his neck, worry lines creasing his forehead.

_“But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do something when we know it’s right.”_

**_“People are counting on us, Steve._** _People like my dad, and Nancy, and_ ** _everyone in this whole damn town...”_** I explained; reaching up to rest my hand on his shoulder.

_“I know; I know.”_ He admitted with a sigh, staring off down at something to his left, as if saying this actually pained him.

_“But it still doesn’t change that I worry about you.”_

_“I know; and I appreciate that_ ** _so_** _much.”_ I reached up with my spare hand, cupping his cheek and turning his face to look at me.

_“But_ ** _I need_** _to do this; Steve.”_ I confessed; his eyes searching mine and not finding a hint of hesitation.

I stared back; already knowing that despite his reservations, he wouldn’t argue with me anymore. _He trusted me; knew I knew my own limitations._

He stared back with eyes full of _sadness_ and _pain_ and—

_“Lo; I just—“_ He began, then stopped with a sigh; an expression I didn’t recognise falling across his face.

_“I need to tell you something.”_

_“Okay.”_ I nodded; already beginning to guess what it was.

He took a deep breath, opening his mouth to speak, when **_VROOOOM!_**

The roar of an all to familiar engine flooded the air, drawing our attention away from each other and towards the glaring headlights being reflected into the bedroom window.

————————————————-

Steve and I swept out of the bedroom at the sound of the engine, over to where the kids were already looking out the window; a look of alarm on their faces.

**_“What the hell’s going on?”_** Steve asked; already snapping back on his coach hat as quickly as he let it slip.

**_“Shit!”_** Max cursed for the first time tonight, and I could already guess what she was going to say next.

**_“It’s my brother.”_ **

**_“What?!”_** Both Lucas and I blurted out at the same time; my stomach already doing flips at the revelation.

**_Shit!_ ** _He couldn’t be here!_

**_He couldn’t fucking be here!_ **

_“He can’t know I’m here! He kill me— He’ll kill_ ** _us!”_** She panicked; looking frantically between me and Lucas as if we could somehow magically resolve this.

_She was right._

Billy had a short fuse at the best of times, but if he found us all here together; I’m not really sure how he’d react.

_It wouldn’t be good; that was sure._

I was meant to be waiting for him to pick me up at Charlie’s, and judging by the look on Max’s face, she was meant to be at home.

Billy didn’t like being messed about, and I’m pretty sure that when he found out we’d been doing just that, he’d explode.

That, and the fact Steve was here with me; well, it was a jury rigged grenade just waiting for the pin to be pulled out.

I made my way to the door, already knowing that out of all the people here tonight, I’d have the best chance at calming him down.

It would probably take a lot of grovelling and an _obscene_ amount of sexual favours, but he’d take it easy on me.

Especially since he seemed pretty damn eager to get me back into his bed this morning.

**_“Where do you think you’re going?”_** Asked Steve, sounding a little too much like my dad as he pulled on my arm, stopping me in my tracks.

_“To speak to Billy — he’ll listen to me —“_ I began to explain; knowing now probably wasn’t the best time to throw my newfound relationship on Steve, but really having little choice in the matter.

**_“Uh; no! Not happening!”_** Steve objected, continuing to block my path to the front door.

_“You think I’m gonna let that_ **_creep_ ** _anywhere near you after the_ **_shit_ ** _he pulled at Tina’s party—“_

**_“Jesus; Steve!_** _I can handle it; if you’d just listen to me —“_ I argued; really not needing Steve’s White Knight instinct to rear its head now of all times.

_“Uh; guys—“_ Max attempted to get our attention, but Steve wasn’t ready to back down yet.

**_“Listen?! I saw the damn bruises!_ ** _I’m not letting you walk out there like some_ **_fucking peace offering—“_ **

**_“GUYS!!!”_** Yelled Max, drawing our attention at last.

_“We don’t time for arguing. He’s here_ ** _now!”_ **She said, and she was right; _now wasn’t the time for talking, now was the time for actio—_

**_“Hey; what the hell are you doing?_** ” I exclaimed as Steve began to drag me by the wrist towards the bathroom.

_“Something I should’ve done ten minutes ago.”_ He muttered, suddenly shoving me into the room and shutting the door behind me.

I heard a _click_ , and reached for the doorknob, turning it to open.

No dice.

_“Hey; Steve. This isn’t fucking funny!”_ I complained, banging hard on the door.

_“It’s for your own good.”_ He said from the other side of the wood.

_“Steve; come on. This is stupid..._ ” I argued, but I could already hear his footsteps retreating down the hall.

_“Steve?”_ I called again, but I could hear the front door open and close, and knew it was already too late.

I sighed, sitting down with my back against the door and hoping beyond all hope that Steve wasn’t as much of an idiot as I took him for.


	38. Chapter Thirty Eight - Psycho Killer

Only two minutes had passed, but already I knew it was too fucking long of a time for Steve to be left alone with Billy.

Putting the two of them together was like putting matches to gasoline, and I really had to get out there before someone got turned into a meat stack; _that someone most likely to be Steve in this situation._

I crouched next to the lock of the door, pulling a bobby pin from my hair and wedging it into the lock.

Part of the benefits of having a cop for a father meant you had lots of easy access to handcuffs, and I was proud to say, lock picking was one of those skills I’d managed to just pick up over the years.

Luck for me; Mrs Byers only invested in the cheap kind of locks, and jury rigging the mechanism was easier than I thought.

The lock slid open with a satisfying click, and I opened the door, walking out to where the kids were hidden behind the bulk of the sofa.

_“Where’s Steve—“_ I asked; only to be interrupted by the resounding crash of the door being kicked in.

**_Billy._ **

He stormed into the room like a man on a warpath; fists clenched at his sides as if ready for a fight.

_“Billy; what have you done to Steve—“_ The question slipping out as soon as it popped into my mind; me marching towards him, _because If he’d done anything to him,_ ** _I swear to god I’ll—_**

**_UMFFF!_ **

All words were stolen from my mouth as I felt Billy’s hand locking around my neck.

**_“You think this is fucking funny?”_** He growled, using his leverage around my throat to back me into a wall; his fingers digging into my skin with threatening pressure.

I didn’t answer; the sound of my pulse too loud in my ears, _because I couldn’t breathe!_ ** _He was fucking choking me!_**

My hands shot up to where he held my neck in a vicelike grip, nails trying to pry his fingers off me.

_“You think you can go fuck around with Harrington behind my back, like I’m_ ** _some fucking chump—“_** He sneered, slamming my head painfully against the wall as he tightened his grip.

_“Billy— you’re— hurting— me—“_ I managed to croak, pulling at his hand more desperately because I could honestly see it getting darker in here.

_“You’ll be hurting a lot more if I find out you’ve been fucking Harring—“_

**_“Leave her alone!”_** Yelled a voice, but I couldn’t make out who’s; my head already light and getting lighter by the second.

Billy turned his head, loosening his grip ever so slightly, allowing some of the blood to rush back to my head.

_“Well, well, well... if it isn’t Lucas Sinclair. What a surprise...”_ His spat, taking the opportunity to let go of my neck to confront him.

I immediately fell to the floor, coughing and gasping as air rushed back into my lungs; oblivion finally fended off by sweet oxygen.

I gulped it down, vaguely aware of Billy talking to the kids somewhere in the room opposite, but I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying; my head still too fuzzy to focus.

Once I’d managed to level out my breathing; the flow of oxygen feeling like needles in my throat, I shakily propped myself up so I could reorientate myself.

I could hear threats now, and voices which I think sounded like Lucas and Max as I rubbed at a wet patch at the back of my head, struggling to stay sat up as I fended off a wave of dizziness that threatened to make me puke.

I pulled my hand away, only to see red.

_I was bleeding._

Suddenly, I heard a loud **_SLAM_** ; and I had hope for a minute that it might be Steve coming to the rescue, but then I heard the kids shouting.

**_“Let him go!”_ **

**_“Billy-“_ **

**_“Get off me-“_ **

The words blended into one, but I didn’t need to hear them to tell the kids were in trouble.

I attempted to push myself to my feet, only to fail miserably and stumble back down onto my ass.

**_Where the fuck was Steve?!_ **

_He should be back here by now!_

_Unless..._

I tried not to dwell on the thought; my stomach churning at the possibilities-

_But_ **_no_ ** _; I couldn’t afford to think like that right now._

**_Those kids needed me!_ **

_“Since Maxine won’t listen to me; maybe you will:_ ** _you stay away from her!”_** Threatened Billy; and I could hear the aggression in his voice, the very real threat that he might hit a child.

I could see his shape through the doorway, holding Lucas a foot off the ground by the collar; the kids gathering around in protest, but all of them too scared to intervene.

**_“STAY AWAY FROM HER! You hear me?!”_** Billy continued to bellow, shaking Lucas hard against the shelf with every word, and I dared to look at the front door with no luck.

_Come on;_ **_come on, Steve!_ **

**_“I said — GET OFF!!”_** Yelled Lucas; finally managing to kick up at Billy and land him straight between the legs.

He dropped the kid like a bag of rocks, and stumbled back, clutching at his bruised manhood.

**_Shit!_ ** _This wasn’t going to end well._

My eyes quickly scanned the room for something; _anything_ , to distract Billy, before landing on my shotgun left disregarded on the floor.

It would have to do.

_“Oh; Sinclair -_ ** _you’re dead! You’re so dead-“_** He roared, gearing up to attack the kid as he straightened up, but he wasn’t quick enough.

**_Chh Chh!_ **

**_“You first.”_** I responded coldly; already standing unsteadily on my feet with the cocked shotgun trained on the back of his head.

Bil _ly froze; just like Tommy had in the parking lot last year, and for a moment I thought that was enough._

Then I heard a deep throaty chuckle that made my veins run like ice and my palms grow sweaty.

Billy turned slowly; that slightly feral look in his eyes as he grinned viciously at me.

_“I should’ve guessed you’d get back up...”_ He remarked, looking absolutely unfazed by the fact I had a shotgun levelled at his skull.

_“Billy; I’m gonna give you one last chance to leave peacefully—“_ I warned, tightening my grip around the barrel of the gun.

_“Nice try, sweetheart; but we’ve had this conversation before...”_ He interrupted me in a low gravelly tone, as he slowly began to advance on me without a hint of fear of the gun in my hands.

_“And we both know how that went; don’t we?”_

_“Billy; I’m not fucking around. I_ ** _will_** _shoot you...”_ I promised; trying not to let my hands shake, _because_ ** _goddamnit_** _; I wasn’t scared, but I don’t know if I could shoot a man,_ ** _let alone one I might’ve had feelings for._**

_“You know; I don’t think you will...”_ Billy flashed me a sinister smile, taking the rest of the space between us in two steps.

I stepped back; still trying to keep my distance, despite me being the one with the gun, but he was faster.

He grabbed hold of the shotgun’s barrel; not ripping it from my hands like I thought he would, but twisting it till it was pressed against me, acting like a bar at the bottom of my throat.

He leaned in close; his face centimetres away from my face so I could smell the cigarettes on his breath; **_and was that liquor?!_**

_“Instead, you’re gonna go get in the car like a good girl, and wait for me...”_ He growled, pressing me hard against the wall, until I could feel the metal digging into my windpipe.

**_“And maybe_ ** _, I’ll be nice to you...”_

_“Fuck you!”_ I snarled; spitting a glob of saliva in his face, because fuck him for thinking I’d do anything he asked after that show.

It landed on his face, dripping down his cheek in a silvery trail, and for a moment I thought I might’ve landed myself in hot water.

He lifted his hand, wiping it away and shaking it onto the flor, before leaning in close to whisper in my ear...

**_“Don’t worry; sweetheart. I’m planning on it”_ **

I could feel his breath on my neck, teeth nipping at my ear, and I closed my eyes; willing it all to be over; _because I couldn’t do this again, not with the kids right there._

_Blurry flashbacks of Halloween raced through my mind; tears trailing down my face, a wet feeling between my legs, all soundtracked by Billy’s sadistic laughter._

_“C’mon, sweetheart. No smart comeback?”_ He muttered; the pitch and phrasing somewhere between a moan and a threat, **but he was right.**

_I had no comebacks._

_I just wanted him to stop, and—_

_“How’s this for a comeback?”_ Snapped a familiar voice that sent my heart aflutter.

Billy span, only to be met with a closed fist sucker punching him straight in the jaw.

Billy stumbled back, releasing his grip on the gun so it clattered to the floor, freeing me.

I looked up at my White Knight; a suitably muddied Steve Harrington ready to knock Billy on his ass for good.

Billy wiped blood away from a freshly split lip, glancing down at the streak of red with a look of disbelief; **_and was he impressed?!_**

**_“You’ve got some fire in you after all; huh?”_** Grinned Billy; the fresh blood smeared on his face making him look half crazy.

_“I’ve been waiting to meet this_ **_‘King Steve’_ ** _I’ve been hearing_ **_so much_ ** _about...”_

**_“Get. Out.”_** Steve spat; pointing at the door with cold hard resolution.

Billy roared with laughter, as if Steve bossing him about was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard, but I sensed no warmth in it.

I was about to warn Steve to keep his guard up, when Billy made a swipe at him.

His fist swept towards Steve’s face, but Steve was ready for it, quickly ducking out of the way before retaliating with a punch of his own.

It landed, and I could hear the crunch of cartilage against bone as Steve’s fist made contact with Billy’s nose.

**_“Kick his ass, Steve!!”_** Yelled Dustin alongside a chorus of encouragement from the other kids, _and for a moment my heart soared, because fuck;_ ** _Steve was gonna win a fight!_**

**_Steve was gonna win a fight against Billy Hargrove!_ **

Steve hit Billy with another punch, _and then another,_ ** _and then another;_** and it honestly looked like he was winning as he began backing Billy into the kitchen.

With one sweeping haymaker, Steve sent Billy stumbling back into the stove; Billy barely catching himself from falling on the edge of the stovetop.

Steve reeled back his fist for another blow, when Billy dived back into action, picking a dirty plate up from the Byers’ overflowing sink and smashing it into Steve’s face.

Steve stumbled back, caught completely of guard by the dirty tactic, and reeling from a potential concussion.

He lifted his hand up, touching where a shallow cut bloomed with blood.

**_“Steve!!”_** I yelled, panic dawning upon me as Billy began advancing on him; Steve’s previous benefit of surprise now lost, and Billy ready to pay him back tenfold.

**_“Billy; stop!!”_** Petitioned Max, but her pleas fell on deaf ears as Billy grabbed Steve by his jacket collar, pulling him towards him.

_“You think you can fucking try and steal my girl, then try and tell me what to do?”_ Sneered Billy, before head butting Steve straight in the face without a moments hesitation.

Steve dropped to the floor; his eyes flagging behind his eyelids, but I found myself frozen to the floor, because this was what I was afraid of.

**Billy was gonna fucking murder Steve and there was nothing I could do about it.**

Billy wasted no time in straddling a barely conscious Steve, kneeling over him as he began raining down punches on his face, clearly intending to maim.

Steve couldn’t even fight back, near unresponsive and slipping further away with every punch.

I got to my feet, acting on pure instinct as I picked up my shotgun once more, levelling it at the back of Billy’s pretty blonde head.

I cocked the gun as Billy continued beating the shit out of Steve; animalistic grunts filling the air as he became more like a beast than a man.

My finger rested on the trigger, **_but I couldn’t do it; goddamnit!!_**

_Even as he was about to kill my best friend;_ **_I couldn’t shoot him._ **

_I just kept seeing the same Billy from last night; that sweet smile, those soft pretty blue eyes._

**_This couldn’t be the same boy._ **

I felt my hands shake, and I could barely keep the barrel level; the gun feeling impossibly heavy in my hands.

I lowered the barrel, even as I could see Steve’s eyes drift shut; unconsciousness taking him as Billy just kept hitting him and hitting him.

The kids screamed and yelled murder, but it all sounded muffled beneath the sound of blood pounding in my ears.

My eyes went blurry as I let the gun fall limp at my side; the surreal image of Billy’s fists rising and falling against Steve’s skin, red blood staining his knuckles, although I didn’t know if it was his or Steve’s.

I could see the same blood dripping down Steve’s face, staining it dark red, and I just wanted to wake up and see it was all a terrible nightmare.

For this all to be a dream.

_But it wasn’t._

**_And goddamnit; he was gonna kill Steve and there was nothing I could do about it!_ **


	39. Chapter Thirty Nine - Stop The Car!

What happened next was so fast, I barely had time to register it.

_Steve was on the floor; Billy throwing punch after punch down on him as he forced him to fall further into unconsciousness._

_I was standing shell shocked, shotgun limp in my hand at my side, because after all this time;_ **_I still couldn’t do it._ **

**_I still couldn’t shoot Billy._ **

Then out of nowhere, Max sprang to action, snatching up a needle of Will’s sedative from a side table, and plunging it into Billy’s neck without a seconds hesitation.

Billy’s head spun to see what happened; his hand rising to pull the syringe from his neck.

**_“The hell is this?”_** He asked; already breathless and slurred, although I couldn’t tell if it was kicking in already, or it was just exhaustion.

He rose unsteadily to his feet; all thoughts of Steve abandoned in favour of confronting Max, only to stumble on the first step.

_“Max— what— the— hell’s— ths—“_ He slurred, only for him to fall to his knees, before collapsing on his back on the floor.

His eyes began to flutter; his consciousness fading, and I could feel my stomach clenching; guilt and fear and worry bringing nausea bubbling in my throat.

Max had no such reservations, snatching up Steve’s forgotten nailbat and wielding it over Billy’s limp form.

_“From here on out; you’re gonna leave me and my friends alone._ ** _Do you understand?”_** She ordered; the same wild look in her eyes that he had just five minutes ago.

_“Screw... you.”_ Billy managed to slur from the floor; the curse sounding weak compared to his usual profanity.

Max swung the bat, embedding the sharp nails in the floor inches away from Billy’s crotch.

**_“SAY IT!!! SAY IT!!!”_** She screamed, and it scared me how much she sounded like him.

_“O—Kay”_ Billy mumbled his eyes struggling to focus on the very implement that nearly ended his womanising ways for good.

**_“I couldn’t hear you...”_** She continued; wrenching the bat from the floor to wield as a threat again.

_“I... I under— understand.”_ He slurred; his eyes barely staying open.

**_“What?!”_ **

_“I... understand...”_ He managed to repeat, before falling unconscious completely; his eyes falling closed.

Max dropped the bat to the floor; exhaling with relief as if she didn’t know she had that in her in the first place.

_To be honest; no one did, the shared mood of astonishment and perhaps even approval still buzzing in the air._

**_Not me though._ **

_I was still frozen solid; my hands shaking uncontrollably at my sides as I found myself unable to tear my eyes away from the unconscious blonde on the floor._

Then I heard a groan; my eyes shooting across to a still knocked out Steve laid out flat on the floor.

**_“Shit!”_** I cursed, throwing my shotgun to the floor, before rushing over to him, falling to my knees at his side.

**_“Steve... Steve; wake up—“_** I pleaded; my hands reaching up to grab his bloodied cheeks, fingers stroking blood slicked hair away from his face.

**_“Steve; come on. You can wake up...”_** I continued to beg; hands shaking as they stained red with his blood, tears starting to fall down my cheeks.

———————————————————

_He didn’t wake up._

**_He didn’t wake up; goddamnit!_ **

But I could still see him breathing through the rise and fall of his chest; the gentle sighs and moans of pain as we attempted to carry him to Billy’s Camaro.

Max had wasted no time in snatching up his keys from his jacket and beckoning us out the front door.

We may be one man down, but my dad and El still needed us, and one close call tonight was already enough.

We’d piled into the car; me having done a slapdash first aid job on Steve’s injuries, which mostly consisted of cleaning away the blood and some micropore tape.

I probably should’ve insisted I drove, but my nerves were honestly too frayed to have to refresh myself with gear shifts, and really; I just wanted to be with Steve.

I knew he was gonna be alright; that he was just pretty beaten up and he’d heal, but I felt guilty.

_Maybe if I hadn’t of been there, Billy wouldn’t have taken it so hard on him…_

_Maybe if I’d just shut my mouth and did what Billy asked; this never would’v—_

**_No; I couldn’t be thinking like that._ **

Billy was a manipulative, controlling asshole, **_and he’d hurt Steve,_** **_and goddamnit!_**

**_Why did the idiot have to be so fucking noble?!_ **

**_Couldn’t he have just let me take my beating like a man just this once?!_ **

_“Mhmmm— Lo—Lola”_

I could feel him stirring against my leg; the position probably a little more incriminating than preferable, but it was the only way we could keep him suitably horizontal in the car without risk of further head injuries.

His cheek was pressed to the inside of my thigh; a thin trail of drool spilling out of his mouth and onto my leg, but I didn’t care; I’d just tease him about it later if he got better…

**_When he got better._ **

_“It’s okay; Steve. I’m right here…”_ I cooed, gently threading my fingers through his thick hair, and trying to ignore the sticky sensation of the blood that clotted there.

He moved his head, nuzzling further into my thigh as one hand reached up to meet my own, fingering at the deep gash Billy had left there.

_“Lo—“_ He groaned, shifting to sit up a little more on the Camaro floor.

**_“Shhh, shhh.”_** I soothed; my hands reaching down to brace him as he moved to sit more firmly against the cushion go my seat.

_“Take it easy, buddy. You took quite the ass kicking back there.”_ Advised Dustin from the seat next to me; a can of gasoline sloshing in his lap.

_“What— What happened?”_ Steve mumbled, rubbing his hand insistently at the back of his head, only to pull it away and find it bloody.

_“It’s okay; Steve. Just keep still.”_ I comforted him, gently stroking his hair in a bid to get him to relax.

_He really didn’t need to see that there was a thirteen year old behind the wheel;_ **_let alone that she couldn’t reach the pedals without duck taping books to them._ **

_Steve panicked enough without the added stress of a head injury, and I really needed to keep him calm if we had any hope of seeing this plan through._

_“Okay, you're gonna keep straight for half a mile or so, then take a left on Mount Sinai…”_ Lucas instructed Max from the front passenger seat, and already I knew all hopes of it going unnoticed was lost.

Steve’s eyes shot to the two preteens sat in the front of the car, one of which was driving it with the same sort of tense hesitation that came when you went out on the open road for the first time.

_“Don’t worry. She’s driven before—“_ Assured Dustin, but to Steve it must’ve seemed anything but reassuring.

**_“In the parking lot…”_** Mike unnecessarily added; still not over the fact that _despite_ my apparent panic, I _still_ hadn’t let him drive.

_“That counts—“ L_ ucas countered, taking his eyes off the spread map of Hawkins in his hands.

_“Oh my God—“_ Steve groaned, reality dawning upon him and panic setting in.

_“Steve—“_ I warned; really not needing him to freak out right now, when Max was stressed enough as it is.

_“They wanted to leave you behind — But me and Lola said you’d be cool—“_ Dustin tried to explain, but only succeeded in winding Steve up further.

**_“Oh my God!”_** Steve openly panicked on the floor of the backseat; his position and the bumps in the road leaving him unable to do anything but complain.

_“Steve—“_ I tried to get his attention again, but it really was no use when he was in full blown panic mode

**_“Stop!!— stop the car; STOP THE CAR!!”_** Steve yelled, struggling as if to stand, but clearly being unable to in the moving vehicle.

**_“I told you he’d freak out—!”_** Whined Mike; his attitude really not helping in the situation.

_“Steve; calm down—“_ I instructed; more firm this time, because the last thing we needed was Max to crash the car because of his screaming.

**_“STOP THE CAR!”_** Steve continued to yell; all thoughts of calm abandoned in the face of sheer panic.

**_“WOULD EVERYONE SHUT UP I'M TRYING TO FOCUS!!”_** Yelled Max, taking her eyes off the road for a second to glare back at us.

_“That’s Mount Sinai—“_ Interrupted Lucas, drawing all our attentions back to the front of the car.

_“What—?”_

_“Turn left —_ ** _LEFT!!”_ **Yelled Lucas, just as we were about to miss the turning.

Max spun the wheel to a hard left; the tires squealing as the car fishtailed into the turning, whipping wildly from side to side.

My stomach lurched, and I could hear Steve screaming as we drove straight through a mailbox, before swerving back onto the road.

——————————————————

It didn’t take long for us to reach the pumpkin patch; Max’s driving, reckless but fast, much like her brothers.

She revved the car into the near barren field, driving straight over the _“Pick Your Own Pumpkin”_ sign, before emergency braking to a halt mere metres from my dad’s tunnel.

She turned the engine off and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief, pleased to finally be stationary after what had been a hair raising ride.

_Well; all of us, except Steve, who currently looked like he was gonna upchuck all over the Camaro’s upholstery._

**_“Whoa!!”_** Exclaimed Dustin; an exhilarated smile on his face.

_“That was—‘_ Began Lucas with that same thrilled grin, only to be interrupted by Steve flinging open the passenger door and racing outside.

**_BLURGHHH!_ **

Steve puked all over the dirt outside, falling to his knees as he hurled up what must’ve been what’s left of this morning’s breakfast.

I climbed out of the car after him, reaching his side to put a steadying hand on his shoulder as he continued to heave and retch over his pool of vomit.

When I was sure nothing more would come up, I reached into my pocket, pulling what I was thankful was an unsoiled grease rag and handing it to him.

_“Thanks…”_ He mumbled, wiping his face with the rag, before going to hand it back.

_“Uhh… you can keep it—“_ I declined, _and I meant it!_

_There was_ **_no way_ ** _I was taking Steve’s vomit home with me;_ **_no matter how many times he saved my ass._ **

I offered him a hand and he took it, before pulling him to his feet with a mighty heave.

He smiled at me; one of those grateful closed-lip smiled that made me melt inside.

_I was so fucking thankful he was okay._

_If something had happened, and it was my fault; I honestly don’t know what I’d—_

_“We should probably get back to the kids… Make sure they stay out of trouble…”_ He said, jolting my attention back to the mission at hand.

**_Gratitude could wait until later. We had rugrats to wrangle._ **


	40. Chapter Forty - Fire Starter

We circled around to the back of the car, where the kids were already in lock and load mode, pulling out swim goggles and flashlights from the trunk and distributing them amongst themselves.

_“Oh great; you’re back—“_ Smiled Dustin with one of his signature toothless grins as he walked up to us with bandanas and goggles in hand.

_“I didn’t know if you’d like the red or the black, so I saved you guys both, just in case…”_ He continued with that thinly veiled hero worship, offering the different coloured bandanas for our selection.

_“Neither; because this isn’t happening!”_ Snapped Steve, snatching both the bandanas from Dustin’s hands, before marching over to the other kids.

_“Hey -- guys -- guys!!_ ** _HELLO??_** ” He yelled, waving his arms as if to get their attention.

He didn’t; or else the kids clearly didn’t care, too busy gearing up with flashlights in tow and goggles on their heads.

_“You think you're going down there -- you're -- you're wrong! Okay??? This -- this ends_ ** _RIGHT NOW!!”_** Steve demanded; sounding more like a belligerent child, than the commanding leader he was trying for.

_“Lola; please—“_ He turned to me; realising that trying to convince the kids was hopeless, and hoping I might support him for once.

_“_ ** _Come on; Steve. Chill. Trust me_** _; it’ll be alright--“_ I reassured him, untying the bandana I kept around my wrist and tying it around my neck.

_“Trust you?!_ ** _Trust you! You let a twelve year old drive—“_** Blustered Steve, disbelief and indignation colouring his voice.

**_“I’m thirteen!’_** Corrected Max, though I doubt a year made any difference to Steve.

_“She’s driven before Steve—“_ I argued; really not seeing what his issue was.

_I mean; we got here okay,_ **_didn’t we?!_ **

_“It doesn’t matter!_ ** _She’s a child-- “_** Yelled Steve; really not willing to see my point in this.

Still; blessing or not, the kids were going forward with this plan, and were already tying their rope to the front of Billy’s car.

_“Listen -- Steve. I get you're upset, okay? But the bottom line is a party member requires our assistance. And it's our duty to provide that assistance…”_ Dustin explained levelheadedly in his nerdy metaphors, but still the rationale hit the same.

Meanwhile, the kids had already begun to descend down into the hole; Mike first, closely followed by Max and Lucas.

Steve made to go after them; clearly intent on dragging them out by their hair if it meant keeping them safe, but I stopped him, taking his head in my hands just like I had at the Byers’.

**_“Steve; please._** _I know my dad made you promise you’d keep me safe;_ ** _keep all of us safe,_** _and I’m not asking you to break that promise…”_ I said; my eyes soft as they stared into his, petitioning for his trust once more.

_“Lola; what do you expect me to do? I can’t do this— I don’t know what to do — I just—“_ He stammered, and I could see the doubt in his eyes; _the fear that he might not be enough if it should come to it,_ ** _that he might fail me again._**

_“It’s okay; Steve. Just do what you’ve always done—“_ I reassured him, stroking his hair before stepping back and beckoning Dustin forward.

**_“Keep us safe.”_** Dustin finished, shoving the nailbat into Steve’s hand.

Steve looked down, tightening his grip around the bat before nodding.

**_“Okay— I think I can do that—“_ **

——————————————————

Steve insisted in being first down the hole, because chivalry wasn’t dead; just painfully over protective and more than a little pigheaded.

His sneakers hit the dirt with a dull thud, and I reached down to pass him his bat, taking care not to slip on the shifting earth there.

He grabbed it, throwing to the ground before reaching up and beckoning me into the hole.

_“Come on; I’ll catch you.”_ He offered, and I trusted him to do so, so I sat at the edge of the hole, shifting forwards until I began to free fall, only to be caught by a set of firm hands.

Steve gently lowered me to the ground, setting me down with more delicacy than necessary, as he kept his hands wrapped tightly around my waist.

_“Thanks…”_ I smiled, subtly enjoying the warmth of his fingers on my skin; how comfortably they rested there.

_“No problem…”_ He replied; staring at me with deep brown eyes, _and it suddenly had me wondering what he’d been so desperate to tell me back at the Byers’._

_Back before Billy had showed up and ruined everything._

**_“Holy Shit!”_** Exclaimed the overeager voice of Dustin; breaking me and Steve away from our moment, only for us to turn and take in the tunnel.

_“Holy Fucking Cow…”_ Steve remarked as he scooped up his bat, staring up at the ginormous cavernous structure we stood in that seemed to stretch on forever.

_“You can say that again…”_ I agreed, using my torch beam to slice through the darkness, only to find it had no end.

**_“Alright, we don't have much time. Everyone stay close to me, okay?”_ **

Mike took charge, already holding the map in his hand and beginning to lead the way down the tunnel, only for Steve to stop him.

**_“Any of you little shits die down here -- I'm getting blamed…”_** Steve spat, snatching the map from Mike’s grasp before he could protest.

**_“From here on -- I lead the way.”_** He commanded, sounding every inch the Alpha Male, and I couldn’t suppress a smirk at this newfound confidence.

“ _What are you smirking at?”_ He asked as he passed me to take the lead; even his walk changing to match his dominance.

**_“Nothing… Nothing at all;_** _Chief.”_ I smirked, covering my mouth so he couldn’t see the grin on my face.

He nodded resolutely, before walking ahead with strong, confident strides, and I followed; _very willing to follow this new fearless Steve wherever he chose to lead me._

——————————————————

We wandered through the dark, damp tunnels for the better length of half an hour; Steve often getting mixed up and turned around when following the map, and I was beginning to see why it wasn’t a good idea to let the dumbest of the group lead the way.

Eventually, we emerged in some sort of chamber filled with these weird egg things that kept spurting dust in the air; kinda like plants during pollen season.

_“—God!—“_ Remarked Lucas as yet another bud released a cloud of dust into the air.

_“... What_ ** _is_** _this place…”_ Max asked, but we didn’t have time to search for an answer before Steve was ushering us onward.

_“Guys, come on -- let's keep moving.”_ He urged, leading towards another opening that led deeper into the tunnels.

I was just about to follow, when I heard a shriek from back within the chamber.

I turned to see Dustin hurrying towards me; a disgusted look on his face.

**_“Ohmygodohmygod —“_** He spluttered, ripping of his bandana to spit onto the floor.

_“What happened??”_ I asked, rushing to his side as he began to cough and gag repeatedly.

**_“I think some got in my mouth!! I THINK SOME GOT IN MY MOUTH -- !!!”_** He shrieked, bent double, dry heaving onto the floor.

For a minute I thought he was gonna be sick; only for him to hack a loogie onto the dirt.

_“Okay— I think I’m okay.”_ Dustin said, straightening up again and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

I turned to look at Steve, still stood at the mouth of the tunnel, and raised an eyebrow; because, _really?_

**_This_ ** _was the kid he’d put so much faith in just this afternoon?_

He just shrugged; a soft smile spreading across his face, because _yeah; that was_ ** _his_** _kid._

——————————————————

When we stumbled into a chamber bigger than any of the ones we’d encountered so far; I knew we were in the right place before even asking.

Still; Steve checked the map anyway, not quite trusting his sense of direction after the wrong turn we took a couple of tunnels back.

_“Alright -- I think this is your hub, Wheeler.”_ Steve confirmed after a quick map check.

Mike took a 360 of the sprawling space; the extensive vine-like growth covering the walls making it clear that there was no mistaking what this place was.

_“Then there’s only one thing to do.”_ Mike stated, turning to us all with a knowing look in his eye.

We all nodded in agreement; already having discussed the plan in detail on the walk over here.

**_“Drench it.”_** I instructed, as the kids began pulling gas canisters from their backpacks; all except Mike and Max who were geared up with weed sprayers filled gasoline, and were already in the process of spraying down the walls.

——————————————————

Once the place was gassed up like a fucking tinderbox; the whole place reeking like the exhaust of a rally car, me and Steve worked together to create a gas trail leading to the tunnel adjacent.

_“You guys ready?”_ Steve asked, already flicking my lighter to life regardless.

**_“Ready.”_ **

**_“Then let’s light this bitch up…”_** I stated, watching Steve flicker the flame to life one more time, before tossing it into the cavern.

_“I am in such deep shit!”_ He muttered, just as flame met gasoline, and the whole place went up like a Christmas tree.

The fire spread so fast it was almost instantaneous, and already I could feel the heat of it as Steve began to back us further into the tunnel.

**_“GO! GO! GO!”_** He urged, ushering us out into the tunnels before the smoke could reach us.


	41. Chapter Forty One - The Stand

Our exit from the tunnels was much hastier than our entrance; Steve actually managing to shepherd us out without any wrong turns along the way.

We managed to find ourselves in a nexus of tunnel entrances; Steve clearly unsure of which one we should take next.

He stared down at the map, periodically looking up at each of the tunnels as if working out which one was right.

I could smell the scent of burning gasoline in the air; the smoke already spreading through the tunnels and threatening to suffocate us all if we didn’t get out soon.

_“This way --_ ** _this way!!”_** Steve instructed, having finally settled on the right tunnel.

We all filtered out after him, when we heard a _dull thump_ , followed by a:

**_“HELLLPP!!!”_ **

We turned to find Mike had falle— _No; not fallen_ , he’d been tripped by one of those vines; the very same vine snaking up his ankle and attempting to drag him deeper into the tunnels.

The kids all raced to his side, desperate to free their friend, but I knew better than to fuck around.

I reached into my backpack, pulling out the instrument of our salvation; my dad’s sawn-off 12 gauge.

**_“Everyone back -- EVERYONE BACK!!”_** I instructed, pushing through the crowd of kids to press the front of the barrel to the vine just above where it wrapped around Mike’s leg.

The kid grimaced, closing his eyes, clearly expecting pain as I placed my finger on the trigger.

**_“What are you doing?!!”_** Steve interrupted, grabbing my shoulder in an attempt to shake my aim.

_“Just trust me…”_ I said through gritted teeth, pressing my gun point blank to the vine, before pulling the trigger.

**_BANG!!_ **

The vine split clean in two, slithering away like a snake, leaving a trail of black blood in its wake.

_“You okay; kid?”_ I asked, lowering my gun to hold out a hand for him to take.

_“Yeah; I think so…”_ He replied, before reaching out and taking my hand, allowing me to pull him to his feet.

_“Thanks for not blowing my leg off--“_ He said; only to interrupted by a guttural growl coming from the tunnel just behind us.

We all turned, only to see a very familiar looking demodog prowling towards us in the tunnel opposite.

**_“Dart…”_** Dustin stated as the beast continued to advance; body crouched low in a hunting stance.

We all began to back further into the tunnels, eager to put some space between us and it.

_All of us except Dustin; that is._

**_“Dustin! Get back!”_** Urged Steve, beckoning the boy back to us before he got us all killed.

_“... Hey Dart... hey. It's me... It's... Dustin. Your friend? Remember?”_ Cooed Dustin, slowly approaching it like it was a stray dog.

I raised my gun once more; attempting to level it at demodog, but couldn’t get a clean shot.

**_Dustin was in the way; goddamnit!!_ **

_“Will you... let us pass?”_ Dustin asked, crouching down to the creatures’ level, but still it didn’t attack.

Dustin reached for his backpack, slowly pulling open the zipper.

Dart let out a warning chortle, and is tensed my hold round the gun, readying myself to defend the kids.

_“Dustin; get out of the way…”_ I instructed, levelling my gun to where I could just about see the creature behind him.

_“No; shhh, shhhh. It’s okay…”_ Dustin assured us, holding up an arm defensively as he slowly reached into his backpack, pulling out…

**_A candybar?!!_ **

_“You hungry?”_ Dustin asked, tearing open the wrapper and crumbling up the candy.

_“It’s Nougat; your favourite…”_ He stated, throwing pieces of it on the floor for the beast to eat.

_It looked at it for a moment then to our surprise, it approached, nudging it with apparent curiosity._

Then it began to eat, chowing down on it with those strange petallike jaws.

_“That’s a good boy. Good boy…”_ Cooed Dustin, whilst I shared a look with Steve that said **_“What the fuck?!!”_**

**_Was this kid insane, or just insanely smart?!_ **

We didn’t have much time to consider before he began signalling for us to pass, keeping his eyes fixed on the feasting beast.

Steve beckoned the kids past first, before grabbing my hand and leading me onwards, keeping one eye on Dart the entire time.

Finally; once we’d all made it home clear, Dustin rose up, taking one last look at his onetime pet.

_“... Bye, buddy.”_ He said for perhaps the last time, before following us deeper into the tunnels.

—————————————————————————

We were almost at the end of the labyrinth of tunnels; the way back to the hole near enough a straight run from here, when a loud explosion wracked the tunnels.

**_BOOM!_ **

The whole world seemed to shake for a moment, and we all stopped still; unsure and afraid of the cause of it.

_“-- What was that -- ?”_ Max asked after a moments silence, though I don’t think anyone was prepared to give her an answer.

**_GRRRR!_ **

A growl reverberated from deeper with the tunnels, and at first I thought Dart had followed us; only to realise it wasn’t the sound of one creature, **but dozens.**

**_“Run -- RUN!”_** Yelled Mike, but we really didn’t need the encouragement, already hightailing it out of there as quickly as our legs could carry us.

——————————————————

We took turn after turn, Steve keeping a deathlike grip on my hand as he dragged me along; the growls and snarls of the demodogs seeming closer by the second.

We rounded another corner, and I could see the first sign of natural light; pale moonlight shining down from above.

**The Exit!!**

**_“There!!”_** Pointed out Lucas, hand shooting to gesture towards the hole in the ceiling.

**_“Go! Go! Go!_** ” Urged Steve, ushering the kids towards the hole, before dragging me with him towards it.

He dropped my hand to grab hold of Max, grabbing her by the waist and hoisting her up so she could climb out.

Next he grabbed Lucas, giving the kid a boost so he could grab Max’s hand and she could haul him out.

I could hear the demodogs getting closer now, almost upon us as Steve lifted Mike up, only to hear the growls turn feral as the monsters rounded the corner, heading straight for us.

I raised my shotgun to shoot, but already knew it was pointless; I didn’t have enough bullets to take them all, when suddenly Steve pulled me towards him, cradling me against his chest.

I wrapped my arms around him, closing my eyes, **_because Jesus Fucking Christ; we were about to be ripped apart by demodogs._**

Steve squeezed me tight, and for a moment I thought that if I had to go out this way; I was at least glad he was with me.

I think I heard one of the kids yell, but couldn’t make it out over the roar of the demodog horde.

I dug my fingers into the fabric of Steve’s jacket, burrowing my face into his chest as I inhaled his scent of hairspray and overpriced cologne; _scared, but ready…_

_But…_

_Nothing happened…_

_No sharp teeth. No tearing claws. No dark jaws of oblivion closing around us._

I could feel air rushing around us; sense the press of the demodogs bodies as they rushed past us, growling and snarling, but they didn’t attack.

I slowly opened my eyes, peering away from Steve’s shirt to see a sea of demodogs parting around us and racing straight past, _almost as if—_

**Eleven.**

——————————————————

When the demodogs had passed, the kids helped Steve, Dustin and I climb out of the hole; all of us relieved we hadn’t just been made into monster food, but I didn’t have time to celebrate.

Those things were heading straight back to the lab.

_To Eleven;_ **_to my dad!!_ **

_I just hoped we’d bought them enough ti—_

Suddenly; the lights on Billy’s Camaro began to shine brighter and brighter; nearly blinding in the dark Indiana night.

I lifted my arm up to shield my eyes; the sheer glare making my head hurt almost unbearably.

_I hadn’t felt so much pressure in my brain since the cabin when—_

The lights dimmed as suddenly as they lit; all of us submerged in near total darkness by comparison.

I turned to look Steve in the eye; sharing an expression of nervousness.

**_Had we done enough to save them?_ **


	42. Chapter Forty Two - Every Breath You Take...

_“Just a little more, and then you’ll be ready.”_ I advised, still smearing on powder blue eyeshadow onto El’s eyelids until I’m pretty sure she looked like a budget Cindy doll, _but it had been what she wanted; and fuck if I was gonna tell the kid what to dress like after the ass saving she’d done this year._

_“Can you keep still a minute?! I’m almost done.”_ I complained, still struggling to blend at the corners, because putting makeup on a thirteen year old was like putting diapers on a puppy; probably pointless, with you having to deal with far more wriggling than necessary.

**_“Ah— Okay, okay...”_** She managed between squirms, eventually managing to sit still on the stool I’d moved into the bathroom.

The kid had shown me a picture of some young starlet on the cover of Seventeen with bright pink lips and sparkly blue eyeshadow.

The look on a whole made me want to barf, reminding me far too much of Tina and her cronies in school, but the kid’s eyes lit up at it; so I tried my best.

Once I’d made her eyes suitably blue and “ ** _alluring_** ”; as the magazine sold it, I put the eyesore of a shadow down, picking up a shiny pink gloss I’d managed to pick up in Melvald’s, which wasn’t quite as ghastly as the shade on the cover.

_“Okay; you can open your eyes...”_ I said; popping open the lid of the gloss, whilst I checked my handy work was even.

_“And open your with your lips like this...”_ I demonstrated, rolling my lips over my teeth so I could get a smooth canvas.

Eleven followed my instructions, stretching her lips so I could smear the pale pink gloss all over them. It was a little stickier than I’d have liked, but I guess that served me right for shopping in the dollar aisle.

All that was left was a little blush; the same pale pink shade I used thankfully complimentary to her skin tone, and then I was done.

_“Voila!”_ I made us of the sole bit of french I learned in class as I pulled back, admiring the much more flattering copy I’d done of Seventeen’s cover photo on a face I honestly much preferred.

The kid instantly got to her feet, making her way over to the bathroom mirror to admire her reflection.

_“Do I look pretty?”_ She asked, nervously fiddling with a lock of hair that had managed to escape the reach of my hairspray can.

_“No... you look beautiful.”_ I reassured her; smiling as I tucked the stray curl behind her ear.

She beamed; a thing that was almost too bright to look at, filled with genuine warmth and enthusiasm, and in that moment I decided that **_yes; she was beautiful._**

**_And she was my little sister._ **

—————————————————-

Dad had insisted on driving us both over to the school, and in hindsight; it was probably wise, considering my only mode of transportation was a motorcycle, and that was hardly conducive with wearing a prom dress.

El had been nervous the whole ride over, fidgeting restlessly in her seat, and I wondered if I’d ever been that high strung.

Then I remembered my own first dance, and how I’d spent the most of it hunched over a toilet bowl; Steve holding back my hair whilst I blew chunks down the porcelain.

When we arrived, she’d been hesitant to get out the car at all; last minute jitters hitting her harder than before.

_“I feel sick...”_ She stated as I began to climb out the car, clutching her stomach in what I guessed was a convincing act for a kid who spent most of her life as a lab rat.

_“It’s just nerves; they’ll pass in a minute.”_ I reassured her; knowing that if she could take on a damn demogorgon, she could go to one stupid school dance.

She shook her head, fingers bunching tightly in the fabric at the front of her dress, before saying;

_“I want to go home.”_

_“Well; what do you mean you want to go home?! You were looking forward to this...”_ Dad turned in his seat to put in his penny; the irritated tone of his voice far too familiar a thing.

El just continued to shake her head, clutching more desperately at her stomach.

_“I wanna go home.”_ She repeated; glitter rimmed eyes wide and nervous.

I sighed and crouched down beside her, already overly familiar with the number anxiety could do on your good mood, but unwilling to let her miss out on what may very well be the best night of her life so far.

_“Tell you what; how about you and I just take a look inside and see what’s what...”_ I offered, hoping the kid couldn’t already see through my poorly thought up rouse.

_“No pressure; just a quick in and out, and if you don’t like it, we can go home and eat pizza and watch looney tunes._ ” I continued, already knowing her weakness of junk food and kids cartoons.

She thought on it for a second, before nodding.

_“Okay. Just a look.”_ She agreed, and I took her hand to lead her out of the car.

———————————————————-

Getting El into the gymnasium wasn’t the arduous affair I had prepared for; the kid only needing to take a look through the windows in the gym doors to decide she wanted in.

We’d walked in at the far end of the gym; the dance already fat too well into the swing for any of the kids to notice a newcomer, even a total stranger like Eleven.

Already I could tell she felt out of place; her hand reaching out to grab my own in a clammy grip, needing some grounding in what might’ve been the busiest room she’d ever been in.

“Every Breath You Take” was playing loud on the speakers, and from wall to wall, some lucky kids were enjoying some one on one time with their chosen partner. Those that weren’t so lucky stuck to the sidelines, staring on wistfully at the happy couples.

El scanned them all hopefully, clearly searching for someone in particular amongst the sea of bad perms and old wedding—

She’d found who she’d been looking for, and judging by the way her face lit up like a Christmas tree; he must’ve seen her too.

I followed her gaze, until I laid eyes upon a rather dapper looking Mike Wheeler, suited and booted and dressed to the nines as he made his way towards her.

Eleven stared at him; her face the picture of teenage romance as she watched her love struck Romeo stride towards her.

_“Well; what are you waiting for? Get over there!!” I_ urged her on; managing to garner a quick smile, before she dropped my hand and cut through the crowd to meet him halfway.

The two of them met in the middle of the dance floor, and I could already sense the makings of a romantic epic blossoming between them; their faces too full of innocent adoration to be captured even in the pictures.

They talked for a moment, before Mike offered El his hand, and she took it; the pair of them disappearing onto the dance floor to enjoy the rest of their night.

_My work here was done._

——————————————————-

The cold evening air outside Hawkins Middle hit me harder than I expected the moment I walked out of the fire escape doors. I pulled my leather jacket tighter around my shoulders, determined to smoke my cigarette quickly, then get the hell out of there; because it was far too fucking cold to spend the night outside in th—

**_“Aren’t you a little to old to be a middle schooler?”_** A familiar cheery voice pulled my attention away from attempting to light the smoke braced between my lips.

_“I could say the same to you, Harrington...”_ I retorted, turning towards the lanky brunette leant up against his BMW.

_“You here to drop the kid off?”_ I asked as I made my way over to his car; guessing Steve probably offered to act as Dustin’s chaperone for the night.

_“No; I just came because I love booze free punch and glitter curtains…”_ He joked, moving so I could settle next to him on the car, lighting up my cigarette and taking a drag.

_“So you managed to convince your dad to let her go?”_ Steve asked, nodding towards the school in a clear reference to Eleven.

_“Yeah. He was pretty stubborn about it at first, but I managed to talk him round.”_ I replied, pulling the cigarette away from my lips and offering it to him.

He took it, taking a drag and exhaling smoke, before replying;

_“You’re going soft in your old age…”_

**_“Me soft?!_** _You’re the one going around adopting random thirteen year olds.”_ I retorted, snatching my smoke back from him to take another drag.

_“What can I say? I’ve got a weakness for short stacks with bad hair and big mouths.”_ He smirked, glancing at me with teasing eyes.

I elbowed him hard at that, starting off a chain reaction of quiet chuckles from both of us.

**_I loved moments like these._ **

_Stupid, pointless moments when we could just sit back and be ourselves._

_No Tommy or Ally, or even Nancy; just me and Steve smoking cigarettes by his car and telling bad jokes._

I smiled, leaning back against the car and breathing in the crisp night air; a cool contrast to the warm smoke of my cigarette, just enjoying the muted murmur of The Police seeping out from the gym.

Steve swayed slightly to the music, bumping me every now and then with his hip as he hummed along with the music; happy to just enjoy the silence and the cold with me.

_“Hey… Do you— do you wanna dance?”_ He suddenly asked, spinning to face me and taking a few steps back from the car.

**_“Steve; we’re in a parking lot.”_** I pointed out; raising an eyebrow at him skeptically.

_“So what. The songs not called Dancing In The Streets for nothing.”_ He smiled goofily; the bad joke earning him a groan from me.

Still; it didn’t dampen his spirits, him already rhythmically stepping side to side in the worst possible example of a solo slow dance I’d ever seen, _but still; it was Steve, and his goofiness always made me laugh._

_“Come on; Lo. Don’t make me dance all by myself…”_ He coaxed me from his makeshift dance floor; his ridiculous dance moves making me chuckle and look to the heavens, _because; really?_

_This was who it was gonna be?_

Still; I decided to humour him, dropping my cigarette to the floor and putting it out with my boot, before stepping forward to join him.

His smile lit up at my unexpected compliance; me stepping close to him to loop my arms around his neck in what must’ve been the closest I’d been to an actual slow dance since _I_ was thirteen.

Steve settled his hands on my waist, holding me gently as we swayed side to side to the music; big dumb smiles on our faces, _because this was ridiculous._

**_We were two seventeen year olds dancing outside a middle school dance like it was fucking senior prom._ **

**_It was stupid and dorky, and maybe even a bit pathetic,_ **

_But it was nice._

And that was enough as I swayed side to side with someone who’d rapidly become my best friend over the past five years; _someone who cared about me more than anything._

**_Someone who lo—_ **

_Someone who loved me._

I leaned forward, staring back into Steve’s warm brown eyes as I came to a realisation.

**_Steve loved me._ **

_He always had_ ; and as he closed the last few centimetres gap between us, soft pouty lips colliding with my own, I couldn’t help but smile.

**_Steve was an idiot;_ ** _he was_ **_dumb_ ** _and_ **_dorky_ ** _, had too much money to know what to do with and was_ **_far_ ** _too pretty for his own good._

_But he was_ **_my_ ** _idiot._

I lifted my hand, letting it tangle in thick, hairspray coated locks, leaning into the smell of overpriced cologne and savouring the taste of cherry lip balm, and smiled.

_Things didn’t change, but some things never had to._

**_And Hawkins never changed._ **


End file.
